Housing, Community and Crime The Impact of the Priority Estates Project

The residents of certain local authority housing estates suffer relatively high levels of victimization from crime. In addition, their residential environments may be vandalized and poorly maintained. A variety of initiatives going back to the 1970s have been employed to improve conditions on such estates, partly in the hope that the quality of community life will be improved and that crime levels may be reduced. Prominent amongst these is the Priority Estates Project (PEP), sponsored by the Department of the Environment. The research reported here forms part of a joint project with that Department to assess the impact of the Priority Estates Project on housing service delivery, crime and community life. This report focuses on the effect which PEP may have on levels of crime and on community relations. The findings are both rich and complex.