And Scott Silverman

Vice - President, Management Alert Group, Ltd.,

Co-chairman Drug Abatement Task Force San Diego Apartment Association

Over the part few months we have attempted to give you a birds-eye view of the problems facing owners, managers, and residents when drug activity and related crime get a grip on a rental property.  This month we want to focus on a particular street and on two buildings to give you an idea of what we face in our daily course of business.

The street we are talking about is only one block long and ends in a cul-de-sac off a major artery in Southeast San Diego.  There are six multifamily buildings (five apartments and a senior project), four single family homes, and two vacant lots.  Three of the apartment buildings, which make up 50 percent of the rentals, are now in or have gone through foreclosure because of drug problems with renters.  Of those three, one has not had any running water for eight weeks and is the headquarters for 50 percent of the drug activity on the street.

As it happens, our building is located next to this building.  We have met with the police, the City Attorney, Councilman Pratt, HUD, and anyone else we could find in an attempt to solve this problem.   As you might expect, when we took over our building on January 1,  it had a serious drug and crime problem.  We put together a comprehensive plan and currently have little if any drug activity on the property.  But as you will soon see, more must be done in order to turn the building around.

Beginning about March 28, the police began to increase their presence on our street and the following is an account of the activity.

March 31

A TV crew followed the police on a drug raid on our neighbor’s property.  Fifteen policemen arrested about 10 gang members.

April 1

About 35 to 40 gang members took control of the street in front of the  neighboring property.  As luck would have it, we rented two units that day.  The  police also raided the adjacent property and made some arrests.

April 2

The gangs were out in force, and because of police activity, one of our new renters had to park on the street.  When the police left, a gang member tried to steal her car; he was breaking  the window when she came out of her unit and saw him.  In the ensuing fight, she was badly hurt.

Due to the “ethics” of the gang structure itself, the attacker himself was severely cut with a knife; to the best of our knowledge, he died from the wounds.

Somehow during the chaos, we rented two more units.  However, because of the street problems, a resident who moved in on Saturday moved out on Sunday.

April 3

I was in the apartment office at 9:15 a.m. when I heard screaming from the side of the building.  When I ran out to take a look, I saw three men beating up another man in the neighbor’s parking lot.  When the police arrived, they arrested the three men and had to tow the victim’s car away because all the windows had been broken out during the attack.

Forty-five minutes after the police car left, another car drove up and we watched as two sawed-off shotguns and other items were given to someone who came out of the neighbor’s building.  Another police raid later in the day did not turn up any of those weapons.

A record of violence and crime

Since April 3, the police have been on the adjacent property every day and on two others which have similar problems on our block.  The police activity along our street for the ten days ending April 6 includes:

During all this activity the police did not have to come on our property to make any arrests.   The point of this story is that while it is possible to do our job and maintain a property which is relatively free of drugs and crime, we also need the cooperation of our neighbors.   When we evict a problem renter, I know that person will most likely rent from someone else in the general area.  If you don’t screen properly, don’t maintain strict standards and house rules, and aren’t aware of what is happening on your property, you can expect to see an increase in illegal activity and a subsequent decrease in income and profitability.

Join Management Alert

During the upcoming months Management Alert and the SDAA Drug Abatement Task Force will combine to work with the city and county, as well as the legal and professional community, to held educate owners and managers in specific methods of handling these problems.

We encourage you to become actively involved with us.  Call SDAA for the meeting dates for Management Alert/Drug Abatement Task Force.

Reprinted from

Rental Owner Magazine