Is there any truth to the idea that crime follows in the wake of apartment development? It turns out that there have been very few studies that address this issue. A study conducted for the Arizona Multihousing Association concluded that the perception of higher crime associated with multifamily housing results from counting police calls by address. Hence an apartment property with 100 or more units at the same address may be wrongly compared to one single-family residence.
“In actuality, when police data is analyzed on a per unit basis, the rate of police activity in apartment communities is no worse than in single family subdivisions, and in many cases, is lower than in single family areas.”
Elliott D. Pollack and Company, “Economic & Fiscal Impact of Multi-family Housing,” Phoenix: Arizona Multi-housing Association, 1996, Part II