Strategies for Crime Reduction in Public Housing

Many recent studies have revealed that not only are residents of public housing the most vulnerable segment of the American population in terms of criminal victimization, but that even in projects where the actual incidence of crime is not high, a great fear of crime prevails, especially among the elderly tenants. There is general consensus among crime prevention experts that crime reduction programs in public housing must utilize an integrated set of measures, including: (1) physical design, security hardware, and maintenance improvements by management; (2) increased organization of tenants around crime prevention issues; (3) employment of unemployed tenants--both youths and adults--on the rehabilitation of their projects; (4) establishment of on-site crisis intervention and other social service programs; (5) better cooperation between public housing security personnel and the local police; and (6) more public-private agency investment in the upgrading of public housing projects and their surrounding neighborhoods. The Department of Housing and Urban Development\u27s two-year, $ho million Anti-Crime Demonstration in Public Housing launched in 1979 is the first attempt by the Federal government to wage such a comprehensive attack on crime and its attendant problems in our nation\u27s most neglected residential areas

An Examination of Public Housing in the United States after Forty Years

This article first briefly reviews the history of public housing in the United States since its inception in 1937, noting that growing obsolescence of public housing units, the deterioration of inner-city neighborhoods surrounding public housing projects, racial tensions, and inflation have aggravated public housing problems in recent years. Moreover, public housing tenants are no longer predominantly white, upwardly-mobile, two-parent, working-class families, but predominantly non-white, non-mobile, female-headed, lower-class families. The remainder of the article presents the findings of a 1978 field survey of public housing in the United States conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in preparation for its Public Housing Urban Initiatives Program. This survey revealed the number of troubled projects and their major characteristics, identified and explained the principal variables causing these projects to be labeled troubled, and, finally, assessed the impact of a variety of remedial intervention strategies proposed by HUD field office personnel. The author concludes that, in the balance, the positive aspects of the public housing program in the United States outweigh its negative features. There are problems with inconsistent regulations at the federal level, with site selection, with fraud and crime, with management-tenant relations, and with underfinancing, but the system has also responded fairly well over the past forty years to the demand for low-income housing and to changing tenant expectations in terms of the structure of public housing units and their amenities, besides incorporating new housing technologies and architectural styles

The Challenge of the Modern Metropolis

Mary Jo Huth, after distinguished service at various Catholic institutions of higher learning, is now Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Dayton, her alma mater. The lively response of the local press to the oral presentation of this topic indicates its contemporary importance

The Birth Control Movement

Mary Jo Huth, who holds her doctoral degree from St. Louis University, is chairman of the Department of Sociology. She has been honored by several Honor Societies and has taught at colleges throughout the country. Widely traveled at home and abroad, she has contributed to various journals and reviews

Effects of Urbanization Process on the AIllerican Way of Life During the Twentieth Century

Mary Jo Huth, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Sociology and Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology; holds a B.S. degree in Education from the University of Dayton, an M.A. in Sociology from Indiana University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from St. Louis University. Dr. Huth\u27s interest in urban problems is not entirely academic, for in addition to teaching a course in Urban Sociology at the University of Dayton, she serves on the Board of the Dayton Urban League and on its Community Action Program Advisory Committee

Malnutrition and Food Habits: The Problem as Seen by the Social Scientist

Dr. Mary Jo Huth has been Chairman of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Dayton since September 1965. She received a B.S. degree in Education from the University of Dayton, an M.A. in Sociology from Indiana University, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from St. Louis University