Safety assessment of multi-family housing: An impact evaluation

About the project

The aim of the research project "Safety assessment of multi-family housing: An impact evaluation" is to examine the extent to which safety assessments of multi-family housings lead to increased safety and well-being among residents, in addition to reduced levels of property crime in and around the properties.

Safety assessments aim to reduce the occurrence of criminogenic environments in and in close proximity to (residential) properties and have a strong focus on situational crime prevention (e.g. Routine Activity Theory and Broken Windows). With the help of a safety assessment of a property, it is possible to identify risk factors for crime and increased insecurity. A safety assessment thus does not involve an intervention towards any risk factors but entails identification of them. On the other hand, it is, of course, a logical consequence of a safety assessment that property owners are expected to address the identified risk factors in order to reduce the occurrence of criminogenic environments and thus crime and experiences of insecurity in and around the properties.

In a collaboration between Fastighetsägare BID-Mlamö and Länsförsäkringar Skåne, a number of property owners will be offered safety assessments of their properties. The present research project intends to follow the development of e.g. residents' well-being and security as well as reported property crimes in the properties that undergo a safety assessment. To follow this development, a residential survey is distributed to all households in the properties that undergo a safety assessment and that meet a number of inclusion criteria. A residential survey will also be distributed in comparison properties that do not undergo a safety assessment during the study period. This survey is then repeated six and eighteen months after the safety assessments.

To examine the development of reported property crimes, information on police-reported crimes will be analyzed. This includes vandalism, theft, burglary (including attempt) and vehicle-related crime types (cars, bicycles, etc.).

The data cover events between the 2018 and 2022 and comprise information on the type of crime, date of the crime and geographical coordinates of the incident. The data covers incidents in central Malmö in order to investigate the development of crime levels in the examined properties. The material will be deidentified, which prevents individual cases from being linked to case numbers in the police's computer system and thus also to individuals. The material will not process direct personal data about individuals.

The research project is expected to generate knowledge about how property owners in collaboration with other societal actors can contribute to prevent crime and increase feelings of security and safety in an urban environment.

Information to participants

Collected data

The answers provided by participants in the survey are anonymous, which means that it is not possible to link answers to specific individuals. The collected data is stored at the department of criminology, Malmö University. Only a handful of researchers at the department, including the research group for the project, have access to the data.

Study results

The results from the study will be published in scientific reports that will be available online. In addition, the results of the study will be published in scientific journals. The results will also be presented orally in various contexts, both for the general public and for officials and researchers. All material will be analyzed and presented on an aggregate level, which means that answers from the residential survey from individual properties cannot be identified.

Support for victims of crime

If you have been the victim of a crime and feel the need to talk to someone about your experiences, you can contact Victim Support Sweden (Brottsofferjouren), tel. 116 006.

Contact

If you have questions about the study or want to get in touch with the researchers, please contact Karl Kronkvist.