Your community is where you should feel safe against the external forces of the world. It should be a place where crime shouldn’t reach your family and yourself. It should be a place where you can feel comfortable going down the street. However, how would you feel if your neighborhood was filled with dilapidated homes and vandalized buildings?
Not many people like to live in that kind of neighborhood. It turns out such communities are also prone to higher crime rates. What do experts propose? One of the solutions experts suggest is renovating dilapidated buildings and homes to decrease squatters and crime rates within the area. It might seem inconsequential to you, but abandoned and dilapidated structures play a significant role in increasing crime rates in the United States.
Abandoned and Dilapidated Structures Increase Crime Rates
Many people don’t like to have old and abandoned buildings in their communities. Some even hate it more if when delinquents vandalize these homes inside and out. If you think this invites criminals into your neighborhood, you’ve got that one on the nose. Old structures such as those are home to all sorts of illegal activity. They can easily be criminal hideouts as well.
Moreover, people are less likely to check on such structures unless someone else—a new homeowner or, most likely, a developer—bought the property. Unfortunately, there is a low chance for anyone to buy them regardless of the price. Without actual ownership of such properties, security is non-existent, which is one reason why abandoned properties become a hub for criminal activities.
So what can your community do about it?
Renovation and Community Work
The best way to handle this is to start renovating old buildings and replacing abandoned ones. If you think about it, this is a lot of work that you need to do to better your community.
If you have permits to use a particular abandoned property, it’s best to renovate it to a community center. Community buildings can bring a lot of life back into your community, and they can start to get some positivity from their members. Such structures can also make a difference in making your neighborhood look good in front of outsiders.
However, not many people are willing to give their properties to the community. Some of those hold significant investments, and they’re probably waiting for someone to purchase them. But the simple act of putting working doors and clean windows on old and abandoned structures despite not using them can already decrease crime activity within the area. This is an action by the city of Philadelphia, and by doing it, they have reduced crime rates within the area.
Getting to Work
Now that you know why you need to make your community a better place, it’s time to get to work. Here are a few ways you can renovate these dilapidated, old properties in your neighborhood:
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Working with an Excavation Company
Your community most likely wants to get the renovation work to be as fast as possible to get into utilizing the buildings immediately. One way to expedite the process is to get a company specializing in excavation to work with you to make the entire renovation process a lot faster, especially if you’re planning to build community buildings from the ground up.
Excavation is a lot of work. Many developers believe that it’s the most time-consuming part of every project. However, if you get people to work on you, excavation can take very little time.
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Get Local Contractors on the Job
Local contractors will undoubtedly expedite the entire building process, especially if you’re in a rush. Furthermore, they can start installing new doors and cleaner windows on abandoned buildings and do that job a lot faster. Sure, you might have to use a bit more funds to get them working, but it will undoubtedly make a difference in the efficiency of your projects.
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Get Other Community Members to Help Out
Lastly, it’s time to get different members of the community to join your project. They don’t have to help with building work, but they can help with clearing vandalism in various properties and keeping vandalism low in multiple neighborhoods. They can even start youth programs that promote artworks as part of their program.
Ultimately, many of the younger population vandalize because they feel frustration at the world. By doing this, you can decrease the chances of them vandalizing ever again. This can then help increase the value of the properties in your community and reduce this kind of crime.
Your community should be a place where you can feel safe with your family. By doing these things, not only can you start to feel safe, but you can also increase the prices of the property in your community. The higher the chance your community property gets sold, the less likely criminal activities will be in your area.
