Everyone wants to live in a safe neighborhood, but not everyone can afford to buy a house in the best part of town. Many families are struggling to find the balance between finances, safety and amenities, and sometimes, compromises must be made. However, your family’s safety is not something to gamble with.
The Serious Consequences: Is Your Neighborhood Hurting Your Children?
Whether you’re considering a move to a new area or simply trying to determine how worried you should be about your current neighborhood, empowering yourself with information is the best solution. Reading online reviews and opinions on web forums is not the best way to get information about a neighborhood. Everyone has an opinion, and one person’s negative experience is not necessarily a reason to cross an area off your list. Even the best neighborhoods deal with occasional crime, and it’s important to remember that no place on Earth is perfect.
That said, you have every reason to want to live in a good neighborhood, especially if you have children. A study by the University of Michigan discovered that children who grow up in bad neighborhoods often suffer for it throughout their lives. This is especially true for minority children. The study found that black children who grew up in impoverished neighborhoods only had a 76 percent chance of graduating from high school.
Gathering the Facts: Is Your Neighborhood Safe?
What makes for a bad neighborhood? You might be asking yourself this question. There are a variety of factors that can go into making a neighborhood undesirable, from a high unemployment rate to a large amount of gang activity. Most of these issues intertwine in some way. When kids suffer from negative influences in the neighborhood, they are less likely to finish school and therefore less likely to find employment one day. Unemployed adults tend to stick around the neighborhood and become involved in a life of crime as they attempt to survive. This creates more negative influence on the children, and the cycle continues.
There are other factors as well, such as the presence of sex offenders. This threat is not always obvious simply by looking around the area. Luckily, there are resources available to help you determine the realities of your chosen neighborhood. There are a variety of websites that allow you to check on crime rates and other factors for various areas. You can find a list of such resources here.
The Reality of Safety: Can You Ever Truly Be Safe?
In the United States, a burglary takes place about once every 18 seconds. Although there is always the possibility of a break in, you’re certainly going to be a lot safer if you choose a neighborhood with a good reputation. However, something that many people fail to realize is that neighborhoods can change over time. A neighborhood that was excellent in 2016 is not necessarily going to be safe and peaceful today. It’s wise to have a plan of action in place to ensure you remain safe and secure as your neighborhood evolves throughout the coming years.
Protecting Your Home: Added Security Measures
Luckily, there are steps you can take to protect yourselves even if you can’t afford to move to the best neighborhood. With a good security system and a quality doorbell camera, you can not only feel safe when in your home, but you can also have added security when traveling. Although it’s likely that you’ll never experience a break in, having these measures in place can be worth it for peace of mind.
We all wish for a peaceful and crime-free world, but society is far from perfect. Whether you plan to stay in your home or continue to work toward moving to a better neighborhood, it makes sense to take additional steps to keep your home secure.
