TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Police Department's Crime-Free Multi-Housing program has been a controversial one with some community leaders calling for the program to end while police defend it.
However, the problem of tossing families out due to one person's offense isn't unique to Tampa.
It's been happening for nearly 30 years in low-income housing properties across the nation. The first crime-free multi-housing program has origins in Arizona.
Experts say these programs rarely solve crimes and often make situations worse.
"It does not solve crime. If anything, we've seen that by displacing black residents, community members, it can have an increase on crime by preventing people from accessing stable housing,” said Martina Tiku, Equal Justice Works Fellow for the NAACP.
Experts say crime-free housing programs go back to the 90s and stem from a federal "one-strike" program that evicted tenants in public housing.
"There are some very serious racial justice considerations involved in these policies because the majority of people who rent their housing across the country tend to be black and brown,” said Katy Ramsey Mason, assistant professor of law at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
Joseph Rostain Schottenfeld, assistant general counsel for the NAACP, said the program started as an effort by police to limit crime in certain neighborhoods where rates were high.
However, he says it’s unclear how effective the program has been in Tampa and in other cities.
“Whatever the motives behind its origins, as far as we can tell, there's never been any effort whatsoever to determine whether the program has actually been effective in reducing crime at all. And what has been demonstrated consistently is the disparate impact the devastating effect on black and brown renters and prospective renters in Tampa Bay,” he said.
Mayor Jane Castor has defended the program, which came into existence during her time as police chief with the Tampa Police Department. In a statement to 10 Tampa Bay, last week, spokesperson Adam Smith said:
"Every single resident of Tampa, regardless of their economic status, deserves to live in clean, safe housing. This crime prevention program has helped improve the quality of life of thousands of people, but we are always reviewing and improving programs like this and have made multiple changes to ensure landlords don't unfairly evict people. But halting an effective crime prevention program at a time when violent crime is on the rise in Tampa and most every other American city, would only hurt our most vulnerable residents."
Experts say while a safe neighborhood is the goal — communities should consider other ways to achieve it outside of excessive policing.
"Community building efforts, employment opportunities, and other things that have been shown to be effective to bring people away from crime and strengthen communities would all be more effective measures in my mind,” said Ramsey Mason.