Has Public Housing Gotten a Bum Rap?

Abstract

Data were obtained from police on the incidence of crime in multiblock areas containing ten public housing developments in the city of St. Louis. The data covered eight FBI index crimes, and were obtained for seven years, 1971 through 1977. Crime rates per 100,000 population were computed. Seven of the public housing developments were large (over 500 units). There was a mix of lowrise and highrise developments, and conventionally and tenant-managed developments. The data indicate that the crime rates per 1000,000 population in and near the public housing developments are not significantly higher than in the city as a whole, nor are they higher than would be expected based on citywide relationships of crime to demographic and locational predictors. While there is more variation in the incidence of crimes in smaller developments than in larger ones, there is no evidence to support the belief that crime rates are, overall, higher than average in either type of development. It is also not possible from these data to identify any relationship between tenant management and crime rates, though other research has indicated that tenants feel safer in tenant-managed projects.