Surveillance Technology in Public Housing Over-surveils but Under-protects

Abstract

Camera surveillance systems in affordable housing primarily refer to security cameras that may include facial recognition technology (FRT), artificial intelligence (AI), and occasionally other technologies that collect biometric data (e.g., fingerprints, faces, eye scans, and voice). Public Housing Agencies (PHAs), the governmental entities that develop or operate public housing, increasingly use these systems to monitor activities around their complexes and also to grant access to units, citing community safety and crime deterrence as their rationale. The Urban Institute finds that surveillance cameras have made no statistical difference in deterring crime, but they are playing a larger role in evictions and increasing tenants' interactions with the criminal legal system. The ever-present nature of camera surveillance systems has created a shared sentiment among residents that this technology over-surveils but under-protects. This is a one page version of the white paper: https://stpp.fordschool.umich.edu/research/white-paper/surveillance-technology-public-housing-proliferation-consequences-and