Is this a familiar sight in your community? Litter throughout your property and overflowing dumpsters are common nuisances throughout the multifamily industry. Unfortunately, not addressing these nuisance behaviors promptly can lead to more problems.
There is an approach to designing and managing communities to prevent crime called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED). One of the main components of CPTED, “maintenance” refers to creating an environment that is clean and well maintained. The idea is that a number of these nuisance behaviors, or signal crimes, will attract more criminal activities. In fact the “Broken Window Theory” states visible signs of crime, anti-social behavior, and civil disorder create an environment that encourages further criminal activity and disorder.
Luckily taking steps to clean up signal crimes can inherently also help to mitigate future instances of signal crimes. If you see litter pick it up. Is there a broken property sign or window? Call your maintenance technicians to have them repair it, addressing small problems today can lead to fewer problems tomorrow.