Combating crime in public housing: A qualitative and quantitative longitudinal analysis of the Chicago Housing Authority's Anti-Drug Initiative

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Abstract
The Chicago Housing Authority's (CHA) notorious high-rise developments are among the most dangerous public housing in America. In the early 1990s, the CHA launched an ambitious attack on crime, a comprehensive and collaborative crime prevention program known as the Anti-Drug Initiative (ADI). From 1994 to 1996 we tracked conditions in three of the CHA's high-rise developments, assessing the agency's success in implementing the ADI programs in each site as well as tracking other, related interventions. Using a combination of surveys and qualitative research methods, we examined the impact of these programs through the eyes of the residents and other key actors, looking at various outcome measures related to crime and disorder. Our findings indicate some positive results, but follow-up research conducted in 1996 documented the fragility of these changes and their vulnerability to gang influence.