Improving Public Safety Through Better Accountability and Prevention
Memorandum
To: The Mayor
From:
CC: Other recipients
Subject: Minimizing the Construction of Substandard Housing By Real-Estate Developers
One public safety issue that is becoming of concern in this city is the construction of substandard housing by real-estate developers. The upsurge of the city’s population due to increased rural-urban migration and the many employment opportunities that the city offers has led to a rapid increase in the city’s population. The sudden rise in the city’s population is putting pressure on the available housing units. The high demand for housing presents a great opportunity for home developers to make huge profits. Their greed for more profits makes them evade the housing law and build substandard housing units that do not meet the laws (CDC, 2009). When this culture goes on unchecked, it could lead to serious public health risks. Substandard houses are usually not safe for the inhabitants. There have been several cases of houses collapsing, killing people, and destroying property, and there has been an incidence of fire outbreaks due to poor housing (Schuetz, 2018). Therefore, to address such future incidences, the substandard housing issue must be addressed decisively.
Importance of the Research
Just like addressing other public safety problems, substandard housing safety issues cannot be addressed casually. It will require a systematic and scientific research process to come up with the right approaches that will help solve the problem. The construction of houses in the city is happening in every corner of the city; the developers are building different residences ranging from apartments, bungalows, associates, and flats (CDC, 2009). Developers of each of these residences are supposed to adhere to the housing laws to develop quality and safe housing.
Some of the importance of crying out scientific research over the issue of taking action are: first, the research would reveal the gaps in the existing laws that the developers are taking advantage of to build substandard houses. Identifying the gaps in the housing laws would help the council formulate more laws that would streamline the housing regulation to reduce the incidences of substandard houses. The second importance of researching this issue is investigating whether the existing authorities carry out their tasks as required. The developers may be building substandard houses because the regulators are not working efficiently as required (Schuetz, 2018). Therefore, the developers are taking advantage of the reluctance of the regulators to build cheap substandard houses since they know that they would not be caught.
Thirdly, researching this public safety issue would help the council to know the scope and the magnitude of the problem. The council will determine if the problem is just starting or whether it started long ago. Understanding the problem’s scope would help it know the approaches it would use to address the problem. If the problem started long ago, it would be difficult to prosecution of the lawbreakers. Still, if the problem started recently, the prosecution of the lawbreakers would be easy (summers, 2020). Another reason scientific research should be carried out before any action is done is to understand why developers are compelled to resort to building substandard houses. The developers are probably building poor-quality houses because of the high costs of construction and construction materials.
Overview of the Scientific
In carrying out the research, the researchers should use the observation method. Observation research is a scientific qualitative research technique where the researchers physically go to the field and observe the ongoing behavior in its natural situation (McLeod, 2015). This research technique aims to gather more reliable insights into the problem being investigated and gather accurate data. For instance, the researchers will visit every part of the city, checking and observing the residential to ascertain the level of their adherence to the available housing laws (summers, 2020). This will help the researchers get first-hand information about this public safety issue and help formulate the solutions to the problem. A good observation should involve construction experts such as architects, plumbers, electricians, and more. When these experts are included in the team of researchers, they will help analyze all the details related to construction. Thus, the researchers will be able to ascertain whether developers followed the housing laws.
Potential Concerns When the Scientific Method Is Not Used
As discussed, the issue of building poor-quality housing units is increasing in nearly every part of the city. This means that it is a serious problem that requires a systematic and scientific approach that calls for scientific methods of research to find the solutions. If a scientific method such as the qualitative observation method is not used, many mistakes could be committed. Some of the concerns include; first, the council might formulate irrelevant laws that would be ineffective in addressing substandard housing (McLeod, 2015). Using casework to find the solution to this problem would indeed lead to unnecessary laws that would be ineffective.
Secondly, if the scientific method I not used in finding the solution to this problem, it would be difficult to ascertain the magnitude of the issue. Using the observation method will help the researchers know the extent of the problem and how they can approach it (BRM, 2021). Moreover, if a scientific method is not used in this issue, the council would not know the costs involved in addressing the issue. The use of the scientific method will help in estimating the costs.
References
BRM. (2021). Observation. Retrieved from https://research-methodology.net/research-methods/qualitative-research/observation
CDC. (2009). Chapter 3: Housing Regulations. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/publications/books/housing/cha03.htm
McLeod, S. (2015). Observation Methods. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/observation.html
Schuetz, J. (2018). Nine rules of better housing policy. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/05/02/nine-rules-for-better-housing-policy/
Summers, N. (2020). The Limits of Good Law: A study of Housing Court outcomes. Jstor: The University of Chicago Law Review. Vol. 87, No. 1. pp. 145-222
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Question 
Recognizing the importance of research in public safety, your task is to write a memo to your local City Council regarding an issue in public safety that would benefit from research and to introduce to the City Council why adequate funding is necessary to support these research activities. Additionally, introduce to the members of the Council the potential issues that can occur if research is undertaken that does not adhere to the scientific method.
Improving Public Safety Through Better Accountability and Prevention
The specific steps are as follows:
Locate an issue in public safety within your local community where research could help improve a practice.
Construct a 3-page memo with the following sections:
Introduction to the issue
Explanation of the importance of research as it relates to your chosen issue
Overview of the scientific method
Potential concerns when the scientific method is not used
Use no fewer than 6 scholarly resources.