Foreclosures in New York City are Connected to Areas with High Crime Rates

New York City is a tough and dirty city with areas that are both wealthy and poor. The wealthy mansions of Malba create a stark contrast with poverty stricken projects in Bronx and other boroughs. In these poor areas, foreclosures abound and single-family homes can be rather expensive because anything near New York City comes with a high price.

However, people who own their own apartments or are landlords also run into problems. Even if landlords receive rental payments, sometimes people don’t fully pay them or not at all. Unfortunately, landlords cannot evict them because there would be several legal repercussions if they did so.

An interesting trend that has recently been noted is that the more foreclosures occur, the higher the crime rate gets. For instance, if there is a block where four foreclosures occurred, the high crime rate will have significantly increased. Areas with high amount of foreclosures also have people growing marijuana or creating drugs in abandoned houses, which are usually areas where criminals like to set up residence.

Crime has also been seen moving out of areas where there is traditionally more crime, which is an interesting statistic. Areas where crime was already deep rooted have worsened, naturally. These areas there were already a high number of foreclosures due to the number of people living there that cannot pay of their mortgage dues.

Crime in an area with a high amount of foreclosures can even further decrease the values of adjacent homes that are not foreclosed. To address this problem, local government needs to step in and help deal with this growing problem. There needs to be a greater amount of financial assistance granted to these individuals as well as more community involvement with people who are struggling to pay the bills.

Communities should consider implanting programs that help the impoverished develop skills or find better paying jobs. With more access to money and networking, people who are in a bad financial state could see their lives turning around as well as their neighborhoods.

The general belief is that New York’s housing market has gotten better and that the number of foreclosures has decreased. Many don’t realize that New York City’s five boroughs continue to suffer and that attention must be paid.