For Immediate Release
October 3, 2018
Contact: Aisling Mäki
Scéalta Communications
(901) 305-4151
SafeWays Partners with Memphis Housing Authority to Improve Safety for Thousands of Apartment Residents
Nonprofit will assist MHA on a continuing basis to bring safe, livable housing to low-income Memphians
MEMPHIS, Tennessee — SafeWays, a nonprofit whose mission is to improve the safety and quality of life for Shelby County apartment residents, has partnered with Memphis Housing Authority (MHA) to bring eight MHA-managed properties into its program.
SafeWays’ goal is for every apartment neighborhood to provide a sense of community and an environment free from continuous exposure to crime. MHA estimates about 2,450 households or approximately 4,587 individuals will be positively impacted by the new partnership, which began September 1, 2018.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe in their own home, and I support this latest partnership between Memphis Housing Authority and SafeWays,” said Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland. “SafeWays is a crime-prevention measure that works, and it’s great that these apartments are using this program.”
SafeWays tracks certain offenses at Memphis apartment properties, including domestic violence, homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary and theft. Twelve properties that have been SafeWays certified for more than five years have seen tracked offenses decline by 30 percent since 2013 and by 11 percent since last year.
“This important cooperation provides greater security and safety for all our communities,” said Marcia Lewis, Memphis Housing Authority CEO. “This sense of safety impacts how our families feel about the place they call home. It also provides valuable resources that we at MHA don’t have, in having staff to physically observe all that’s going on at our sites, in establishing a presence, and in assisting us with planning for our properties.”
SafeWays Managing Director Janine Heiner Buchanan first met with Lewis shortly after Lewis assumed her leadership role in 2016, and they’ve been working together since that initial meeting to develop this partnership.
“From the start, the deep commitment of Ms. Lewis and her staff at MHA was evident,” Heiner Buchanan said. “A great deal of progress has already been made, and SafeWays is delighted to have this opportunity to assist MHA on a continuing basis in bringing to fruition their vision of safe, livable housing for low-income Memphians.”
MHA is now poised to set a much higher standard for crime prevention in Memphis multifamily properties. The eight MHA-managed properties that were brought into the SafeWays program on September 1, 2018 are:
Borda Towers, 21 Neely
Barry Homes, 255 Lauderdale
Jefferson Square, 741 Adams
Venson Center, 439 Beale
Montgomery Plaza, 1395 Pennsylvania
Kefauver Terrace, 7620 Robinson Cove
GE Patterson Pointe, 866 Latham
Askew Place, 521 Vance Park
Four non-MHA-managed properties — a total of 679 units — are also joining the SafeWays program:
Cleaborn Pointe at Heritage Landing, 440 S Lauderdale
College Park Senior, 838 Walker Avenue
College Park Family I, 838 Walker Avenue
MHA Uptown Homes, Various single-family homes in Uptown
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SafeWays is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation which works with the Memphis Police Department, Shelby County District Attorney General’s Office, property owners and managers, the Family Safety Center, and other community partners to improve safety and quality of life in Shelby County apartment communities.