Broken Window Theory states that as long as urban environments are maintained, crime will be stymied.

“Problem homes” – abandoned properties that have become havens for vagrants and drugs – are being torn down in South Miami in an effort to improve safety and curb illegal behavior.

Part of the city’s Project Broken Window, the initiative borrows its name from the “Broken Window Theory” first proposed by sociologists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in 1982, which argues that by maintaining the aesthetics of urban environments, escalations in crime and vandalism are halted.

“The ‘broken window theory’ is that if you see one broken window and don’t take care of it, then it’s two, then it’s three,” said Carmen Baker, of the City of South Miami.

The initiative was launched in February by a coalition including CBS4 Miami, city of Miami, local government boards and Homestead’s Community Policing Committee, and the problem home demolishing is just one part of coalition’s mission to “prevent crime by addressing the causes of criminal behavior.”

Beth Schwartz, who had lobbied City Hall for a year to demolish the problem home on her street, said the home had become an uncomfortable hot spot for shady activity.

“It had been abandoned for many years. We’ve seen vagrants, we’ve seen stolen bicycles, people sleeping here,”Schwartz said

But now, with the property gone, the neighborhood is that much safer.