| Affordable Housing Group and Police Band Together
LISC's Community Safety Initiative
HomeSight and community members celebrate the opening of Noji Gardens. |
HomeSight, an affordable housing development
corporation in southeast Seattle supported by the Community
Safety Initiative (CSI), had always focused on increasing home
ownership to stabilize poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods. But
when gang members threatened a new resident in Columbia City,
the organization realized it needed a new approach. It phoned
the Seattle Police Department's Weed and Seed commander,
and a unique partnership was born—one that would earn
HomeSight and its police partners one of seven national MetLife
Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards in 2003.
The Community
Safety Initiative (CSI), from the Local Initiatives
Support Corporation, is one of the few national
programs dedicated to integrating crime prevention
and community development. Since 1995, CSI has
built formal, long-term partnerships between police
departments, community development corporations,
and other key stakeholders to reduce persistent
crime while revitalizing troubled neighborhoods.
It has often worked with new and existing Weed
and Seed sites throughout the country. With support
from CCDO, CSI has provided financial and technical
assistance to these partnerships, including the
one between HomeSight and the Seattle Police Department.
|
|
The three major components of HomeSight's strategy were
to more explicitly share information and resources with the
police department, target its development efforts in high-crime
areas and involve police in its planning, and build the capacity
of business owners and residents to organize and address crime
problems. HomeSight embraced its responsibility to improve
public safety conditions and communicated and cooperated with
the police department through Seattle's Weed and Seed.
To create a stronghold in the neighborhood, HomeSight acquired
several lots in Columbia City, and the police department complemented
these efforts with increased patrols and enforcement on these
blocks.
HomeSight began to use its primary funding stream, real estate
development financing, to advance crime reduction efforts.
The organization recognized that multimillion dollar projects
could produce more than homeownership opportunities. Furthermore,
the staff realized that they could reduce the time and cost
of these projects by including the police in the planning stages.
In 2001, HomeSight sought out a southeast Seattle location
that was a notorious haven for crime and illegal dumping and
purchased the lot for construction of the Noji Gardens project,
a 75-unit residential development for first-time buyers.
While the community development corporation finalized the
financing and predevelopment process, its police partners asked
to use the site for SWAT team training. HomeSight agreed, and
this arrangement provided many benefits. It strengthened organizational
ties with the police department, increased police presence
where it had been lacking, and, with police department backing
of the project, helped HomeSight acquire demolition permits
for the existing structure. Furthermore, the heightened police
presence kept crime down during the 2 years of project construction,
thereby minimizing construction and cleanup costs.
After the Noji Gardens project was finished, HomeSight helped
the new homeowners establish a block watch, which is now managed
by the Noji Gardens Community Organization. This group holds
a National Night Out event and works directly with the police
department to keep the subdivision crime free.
Over the years, the collaboration with CSI has helped the
police department weather budget cuts despite increasing demand
for police service. Police must often rely on the community
to maintain the safety gains of past years.The partnership
also has led to a unique arrangement with the police department.
In 2003, HomeSight began negotiations with the department to
receive monthly maps showing where crime occurs in southeast
Seattle. By identifying neighborhoods with high incidents of
crime in its target areas, HomeSight can determine where next
to focus its development resources.
As Columbia City and Noji Gardens stabilized and became self-sufficient,
HomeSight used the police maps to find that the highest incidence
of drug-related activity was outside the nearby neighborhood
of Rainier Beach. Staff outreach to the community discovered
two established block watch groups that had joined to form
the Rainier Othello Safety Association (ROSA). HomeSight is
now working with ROSA, providing support and connections to
the police as it did with Noji Gardens.
This continued partnership between the police department and
HomeSight has taught both parties the benefits that come from
combining law enforcement and community development strategies
to revitalize and empower low-income and crime-ridden neighborhoods. For more information, contact: Julia
Ryan
CSI Program Officer
|
