Acknowledgement

This material was produced with funding from the Commonwealth of Australia and the Australian States and Territories. AHURI gratefully acknowledges the financial and other support it has received from the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments, without which this work would not have been possible. 2Introduction In recent years State Housing Authorities have devoted incr asing resources to address problems associated with high concentrations of multiple disadvantage on public housing estates via a range of housing interventions that come under the general umbrella of ‘estate improvement ’ or ‘community renewal ’ programs. Crime and harassment reduction feature prominently in the objectives of improvement programs. Key strategies include physical improvements and reconfiguration of estates (including reversal of ‘Radburn ’ type layouts), de-concentration via asset sales to change the social and tenure mix, and social/community development initiatives. Frequently, the programs involve partnerships with other government agencies (including Police Services), local councils, non-government organisations and, most vitally, with the communities themselves. There is, however, a lack of empirical evidence indicative of changes in the frequency and spatia