Housing and criminality are related because social groups with a greater propensity to commit crime are
concentrated in certain types of housing. Some areas have a large numbers of offenders residing within
them because the type of housing in such areas is more available to those individuals at greater risk of
offending. Examples include areas of privately rented accommodation with over-representations of young
single males, and transient populations (Bottoms and Wiles, 1988). Individuals who rent a home may have
a higher propensity to commit crime. Baldwin and Bottoms (1976) strongly suggested that the housing
market might be relevant to the spatial distribution of offender rates over other variables, for example, social
class distribution of households in the area. Wikström (1991) also found similar results, based on the pathmodel
analysis for offender rates in different areas of Stockholm.