Historical Background

Historically, multifamily housing in several areas of Wellington was used for new residents who were waiting for their homes to be built elsewhere in the Village. Over time, as the Village grew, the multifamily housing was converted to “full-time” rentals. We commonly refer to this housing inventory as “Transitional Housing”. Between 2004 and 2005, the Village worked with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) to establish a special policing program entitled Problem Oriented Policing or P.O.P. The POP program was designed to target specific centers of crime by engaging the residents in programs such as Crime Watch, coordinated neighborhood clean-ups, and public works projects designed to improve the neighborhood appearance and safety. During the first year of this program targeted crimes fell in excess of 80%. PBSO found a great deal of support from the residents and with their cooperation and assistance, the POP program spread to other transitional neighborhoods experiencing similar issues.

Village Code Enforcement staff also began coordinating their efforts in 2005 with PBSO to target problem properties. One of the commonly held theories is that neighborhoods that look bad are also areas where crime can flourish. This policing theory is often referred to as the “broken window” theory. Again, with the assistance of code enforcement, neighborhoods were improved. In 2006-2007 Village staff began discussions aimed at registering landlords that owned these rental units. PBSO stated that in many cases they had difficulty identifying the owners and tenants as many of the owners were non-residents and in some cases, out of state. The Village in 2007 enacted a “Rental Ordinance” which requires the persons owning multi-family rental property to register with the Village. This ordinance has proved to be a useful tool for both PBSO and our Code Enforcement staff.

Also in 2007, PBSO turned from their POP approach to the formation of a “Street Team”. The Street Team was designed to operate separately from the traditional road patrol or neighborhood policing approaches. The Street Team is comprised of undercover or plain clothed officers that target specific neighborhoods, businesses or residences where criminal activity is suspected. Often their work is conducted during the night or on weekends when criminal activity rises. The Street Team has made dozens of arrests and has solved a very significant number of residential, auto burglary and drug cases.

In 2008, the Village launched an Economic Development Initiative (EDI) that contained eight goals. One of these goals was a neighborhood re-development plan to address the aging housing inventory in the Village. The plan, still in its developmental stage, calls for providing the regulatory framework and the incentives to re-vitalize much of the transitional housing inventory. Obviously, with the current state of the housing market and the national economy, we are putting in place the framework now in anticipation of the eventuality that housing and economic conditions will improve.

Today we are developing targeted emergency action measures which include the development of the Safe Neighborhoods initiative.