Having stable housing is essential for economic and social stability. Having high-quality, stable, integrated housing also makes all community residents safer and better able to thrive. 

Evidence shows that having affordable, safe, and stable housing is essential for safer communities. Structural home repairs in low income housing results in decreased crime. In Philadelphia, housing repair intervention in low income neighborhoods resulted in a 21.9% decrease in crime. At the local level, increasing access to affordable housing by building more low-income housing units results in significant reductions in violent crime. Reducing socio-economic segregation of neighborhoods—such as through housing vouchers that enable low-income families to move to neighborhoods of opportunity—has been shown to reduce youth arrests for violent crime. A program to subsidize the construction of rental housing for low-income residents in high poverty areas was associated with a significant decline in robberies and aggravated assault. 

Moreover, permanent housing subsidies have been found to reduce rates of intimate partner violence, especially for families with more complex psychological needs. Research shows that targeted interventions for children who have suffered from lead poisoning—including lead abatement, medical care, and public assistance—have long-term positive impacts, including a reduction in future arrests for violent offenses.  Other research has found that having stable and safe housing decreases the likelihood of committing a crime. In Philadelphia, a project to remediate abandoned homes was associated with a 39 percent reduction in firearm assaults and, given the low cost associated with the remodels, returned hundreds of dollars for every dollar invested in the program. 

In summary, ensuring that individuals have access to stable housing is the bedrock of community safety.  Interventions which increase the size of the housing stock, improve its quality, subsidize rent, or otherwise make it possible for more people and families to be safely housed will go a long way towards reducing violence and harm. This section will highlight several grant streams which can go towards ensuring more safe and stable housing in your community. 

To implement community safety-focused programs, jurisdictions must have an adequate supply of peers and professionals who can provide voluntary, non-coercive services that support physical and mental health—and allow appropriate staffing for non-carceral crisis response and similar programs. Expanding access to basic health care has been found to reduce crime, as well as save money on legal system expenses. Research demonstrates that when the number of treatment facilities for substance use disorder increases, crime decreases in the same area. Expanded access to mental health treatment, and psychiatric treatment in particular, has been found to reduce violent crime. 

This effect is especially powerful when looking at youth. Increasing wraparound services in schools that treat physical and mental health in high risk areas have been shown to reduce juvenile arrests as well as child abuse cases. High quality afterschool programs that promote students’ health and development can reduce drug use and decrease arrests and other forms of criminal-legal involvement among children. Furthermore, early childhood intervention programs, as well as nutrition programs for newborns, are likely to reduce crime. Expanded access to mental health treatment, and to psychiatric treatment in particular, has also been found to reduce violent crime. 

Community safety cannot succeed without a robust, well-trained workforce of mental health and treatment professionals—not only because these services can reduce violence and harm, but also because physical and mental health are vitally important for safety itself. For too long, this country has taken a punishment and enforcement approach to how we address mental health, substance use, and related issues; the following investments, paired with further public health-centered policy changes, are a first step toward changing this paradigm.