Evidence Matters

Inclusion and Safety (Summer 2016)

Message from the Assistant Secretary

This issue of Evidence Matters discusses issues related to public safety, crime, and inclusion. It considers the broader context of housing and community development for public safety as well as for those groups communities have historically struggled to include and support. This issue also examines what research tells us about factors that contribute to violent crime at the neighborhood level as well as violent crime’s impact on communities and their residents. These issues are important to understand as HUD works to ensure that all people can live in safe, supportive, and inclusive communities.

The Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has been closely involved with research that helps us better understand the effects of crime on neighborhoods. Launched in the 1990s, the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration considered how the chance to move to lower-poverty, safer neighborhoods has benefited low-income residents. In addition to recent research showing benefits for children’s adult earnings and educational attainment, MTO documented significant improvements in movers’ physical and mental health. These health benefits were attributed to reductions in stress as families moved to safer neighborhoods; decreased parental stress may be an important mechanism generating the observed improved outcomes for their children.

FULL MESSAGE

Housing, Inclusion, and Public Safety

Neighborhoods and Violent Crime

Reducing Offender Recidivism and Reconnecting Opportunity Youth

Additional Resources

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