SITE OVERVIEW ♦ TAMPA | FLORIDA
Target Area: Central Park/Ybor• Population: 3,800
Fiscal Agent: Housing Authority of the City of Tampa
Research Partner: BGW Associates
Crime Concerns: Drug-related activity, aggravated assaults, homicides, and other violent crimes
BCJI Funding Year: 2013 Planning & Enhancement
Neighborhood Profile
The target areas of Central Park and Ybor have experienced higher levels of commercial blight, residential vacancy at a rate over twice that of the county, and rates of crime over five times that of the rest of the City of Tampa. While the areas have high levels of crime, aggressive and proactive policing strategies have also led to noticeable declines in Part I and II offenses from 2002 to 2012. During this same time period, drug offenses have also declined by 13 percent, but drug paraphernalia charges are still on the rise. Much of the crime is being committed by a disproportionate amount of homeless individuals in the Central Park/Ybor communities. In fact, oftentimes both the offender and the victim are homeless. At present, citizens are hesitant to issue complaints because they have simply been desensitized by the saturation of homelessness and accept it as a way of life in the targeted area. However, it hinders their desire to live, work, and play in a perceived unsafe neighborhood, thus jeopardizing revitalization efforts. Decreasing crimes and nuisances related to issues of homelessness will certainly improve the sense of safety for this community.
Planning Process
Over the course of 2014, Tampa BCJI leaders examined drivers of crime in the target areas using a mix of qualitative and quantitative analysis. Project partners looked at spatial and temporal patterns of crime and calls for service, the nature of the physical environment around hot spots, community perceptions of crime and law enforcement and patterns of reentry. Findings confirmed hot spots and the importance of coordinated strategies to address problems with homelessness and disorder. As such, the BCJI project has focused on enhancing resident and business sense of safety by decreasing crimes and nuisances by homeless people and creating a Continuum of Care that is responsive to the unique needs of the homeless. This work seeks to leverage the existing partnerships in the community, including the efforts of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.
Implementation Strategies
Launched in mid 2015, Tampa’s BCJI implementation emphasizes a range of strategies intended to leverage existing partnerships and create new partnerships to address the underlying conditions of chronic homelessness while mitigating nuisance or criminal behavior by homeless individuals. The site is pursuing a “problem-solving court” focused on homeless issues, while bolstering homeless liaison resources, case management dedicated to homeless persons in the target area, mental health workers, and other resources. In the course of this work, the City of Tampa has renamed its Code Enforcement & Clean City Divisions to the City of Tampa Neighborhood Enhancement Division, the main goal of which is defined as enforcing non-criminal city ordinances, codes, and regulations to improve the quality of life through maintenance efforts of problem properties. This realignment promises to support BCJI work by spurring efficient responses to neighborhood issues.
Tampa BCJI leaders have liaised with other sites tackling homelessness problems. Police officers involved with BCJI in Los Angeles and San Bernardino, California joined officers from Tampa at a conference on homelessness in 2015, followed by a visit with Tampa’s BCJI team. They discussed evidence-informed strategies for crisis intervention, street outreach and reentry which are part of their BCJI implementation activities.
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