NEW HOUSING schemes to be created in the inner cities as part of the government's $5 billion three-year plan will be designed to help fight crime.
According to Dr. Vincent George, senior director at the National Housing Trust (NHT) and member of the Urban Renewal Planning Committee, the NHT intends to apply a process known as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) during the redevelopment of a number of inner-city communities in Kingston.
"The objective of this programme is to design communities in a way that will allow residents to feel safe while at the same time cause miscreants to feel unwelcome," he told The Gleaner.
In addition, he said, the principle of "Hard Targeting" will be applied. This is a proactive approach that entails the solidifying of potential weak areas in an effort to prevent crime.
"An example of this is the use of metal doors instead of the traditional wooden or ply board doors," he said.
Minister of National Security and Justice, Dr. Peter Phillips, acknowledged the NHT's plan to "specifically design these schemes with the intent to facilitate crime control".
He said "things like easy driving access to communities, open spaces, clear areas and definitely not high rise buildings will be provided."
The history of housing schemes show that these apartments are built with the intentions of ridding the city of slums.
Another aspect of the CPTED programme, according to Dr. George, involves the resocialisation of residents towards accepting communal ownership of community spaces. The NHT will also be a part of wider effort to work with other stakeholders to eliminate the social and political tensions that exist in the communities.
But, when quizzed as to who would get these houses, Dr. George said "the current residents of the communities selected to be redeveloped will be the main beneficiaries of the new housing benefits". The communities of Denham Town, Hannah Town, Parade Gardens and areas of Matthews Lane in Kingston, will benefit under phase one of the programme.
According to Dr. George, "the NHT will use a census as well as the assistance of the Members of Parliament to identify persons in these communities who live in substandard conditions. Once the Trust has verified that the persons identified are in fact those with the greatest need, they will be granted a benefit by the NHT."
