Crime File: Crime and Public Housing

• NCJ Number: 123675
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 0 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Crime Files
• Grant Number(s): 90-IJ-CX-0004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis

Annotation

Following a segment on an effective public housing crime prevention program in Boston, Mass., a panel discusses key issues in crime control in public housing.

Abstract

A profile of the Alice Taylor Apartments in Boston, Mass., shows how building and grounds design and maintenance facilitate tenant pride and commitment to upgrading and maintaining a high quality of life in public housing. This carries over into tenant involvement in crime prevention. The housing authority cooperates with the police in countering drug trafficking at the first sign of its existence. One of the panel members, Hattie Dudley of the Tenants' Task Force at the Alice Taylor Apartments emphasizes the importance of tenants assuming responsibility for their quality of life. She also notes that tenant selection is very strict for the Alice Taylor Apartments. Vincent Lane, chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority, discusses the efforts of that authority to increase tenant management in public housing and improve crime control in Chicago's public housing. Carolyn Robison of the Tulsa Police Department (Oklahoma) discusses the police role in countering crime in public housing. She emphasizes the importance of police interactions with tenants and tenant groups to remedy negative police attitudes toward public housing tenants in general and to increase tenant cooperation with police.