Exclusive: What new data shows about impact of new Boise-area apartments on crime

If you’ve been to a city council meeting in the Treasure Valley, you’ve likely heard discussions about apartment developments. Oftentimes, a neighbor or two near the proposed development will complain that apartments bring crime to the neighborhood.

“Statistics have shown that developments such as this bring with it more crime,” one neighbor said at a recent Nampa City Council meeting where members considered 264 apartments. “There seems to be something about high-density residential units associated with all types of serious violent crime.”

“More housing, especially apartment complexes, means more people and higher crime rates,” said another neighbor, in an email about the same apartments. “We no longer feel comfortable in many areas of Nampa that we once felt safe in. We are seeing more and more break-ins, vehicles stolen, and destruction of property with tagging etc. every day.”

In Eagle, a developer almost gave up on his apartment development application when residents spoke against it, citing concerns about crime.

But does adding apartments to a neighborhood actually increase the number of crimes police departments see in the area?

An Idaho Statesman analysis of crime data within a quarter mile of nine apartment complexes across the Treasure Valley found there was no correlation between when the apartments opened for new tenants and crime rates.

The Statesman’s findings agree with other literature and studies on the topic. A study conducted for the Arizona Multihousing Association found that the rate of police activity in apartment complexes is “no worse than in single-family subdivisions, and in many cases, is lower than in single-family areas.”

A Harvard University literature review also cited reports from Irving, Texas, and Anchorage, Alaska, that “found no connection between crime and housing density.”

Local data doesn’t show an increase in crime around apartment buildings

The Statesman requested lists of all crimes reported from within a quarter-mile radius of nine individual apartment addresses. The Boise, Meridian and Nampa police departments complied and compiled spreadsheets of all of the crimes reported, from trespassing and disorderly conduct to murder and kidnapping.

Two of the apartment complexes in Boise included the Adare Manor apartments, an affordable-housing building at 2419 W. Fairview Ave. in the West End, and The Vanguard apartments at 600 W. Front St. in downtown Boise whose rents range from $1,300 to over $1,600 per month.

The neighborhood around the Adare apartments, which opened in October 2019, saw a nearly 6% decrease in crime from 2018 to 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, the number of crimes rose 25% to 413.

Adare Manor offers 120 of its 134 apartments to low-income renters who make 60% or less of the area median income, which was $42,000 for a family of four in 2019 when the apartments opened.

The Vanguard neighborhood saw a 14% increase in crime one year after the Vanguard opened in 2021 to 960 in 2022. Historically, crime downtown has been higher than in other parts of the city, according to the Boise and Meridian police departments. That’s because it is where large numbers of people gather and where people consume alcohol in bars and clubs.

Ash and River, a town home rental complex off Boise’s River Street, opened in 2019. Its neighborhood saw a 13% decrease from 2016 to 2021, to 335 crimes. In 2022, crime fell 11% to 297 crimes.

When the Ash and River apartments opened in 2019, its target was “workforce” tenants who made 80% to 120% of the area median income, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development case study. Today, 80% of area median income translates to $57,000 for two people and $71,000 for four, according to the city of Boise. 100% is $78,650 for two and $98,300 for four.

Crime data near apartments in Meridian and Nampa also showed no correlation between crime ratesand apartment complex openings.

In response to the Statesman’s inquiry, Nampa Police Lt. Chad Shepard said he had the department’s data analyst look at city crime records, and they offered no clear answer about what crime apartments bring to an area.

“I don’t think, in general, apartments cause an increase in crime,” Shepard said by phone. “It’s just a matter of who currently is residing there and what issues do they have that bring law enforcement into their world.”

Shepard said many calls to police in apartment complexes are not about crimes but about mental health concerns or vehicle accidents.

“We just had a conversation in one of my briefings yesterday about what apartments haven’t caused an increase (in crime), and the patrol team listed a number of apartment complexes where they haven’t had to respond,” Shepard said.

In Meridian, the Old Town Loft apartments, located downtown across from City Hall, opened for residents last year, with rents that range from $1,300 to over $1,800 per month. The neighborhood around the lofts reported 108 crimes in 2020 and has reported 134 so far this year.

Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea said that increase isn’t due to the apartment complex but to “the increase in activity downtown in our local establishments and bars.”

Another Meridian complex, Silverstone Apartments, at 4225 E. Overland Road, saw a decrease in crime since it opened in 2020. According to the data, the area reported 17 crimes in 2019 and 14 in 2022.

“When you take a look at the numbers, you really don’t see that rise in crime that everybody thinks that they’re going to see,” Basterrechea said.

Myths ‘get repeated from generation to generation’

If the data doesn’t back up the ideas about apartments and crime, why are people repeating it at multiple public hearings?

“Old myths die hard,” said Deanna Watson, executive director of the Boise City / Ada County Housing Authorities, by phone. “They just get repeated from generation to generation.”

For decades, Watson said, people living in run-down public housing complexes bore the brunt of the criticism about crime and a decrease in property values, when really the fault was on the agencies in charge of funding public housing.

“You can’t maintain it without the funding that is needed, and then things start to fall into disrepair, and neighbors blame the people who live there rather than the system that under-funds and undercuts what it was supposed to be,” Watson said.

Clark Wardle, a Boise law firm specializing in real estate development, conducted its own a study on some of the “myths, fears and objections” about multifamily residential development. Clark Wardle often represents apartment developers in their applications to city governments.

In the study, the law firm wrote that census data shows family dynamics nationwide are changing from two-parent, two-child households to households more likely to include a single parent, single person, childless couple or empty nesters. With this shift comes a demand for housing that “offers a more convenient lifestyle” than traditional suburban housing, the law firm wrote.

The study argues that people who rent apartments are no more likely to commit crimes than residents of single-family subdivisions. The firm writes that the misconception about higher crime rates in apartment communities is “largely based on the fact that multifamily (residents) share the same address when counting police calls by address.”

In an interview with the Statesman, Jillian Patterson, housing programs director with the Boise City / Ada County Housing Authorities, said anywhere people are living close together is likely to have more police calls.

“In any apartment complex where there is close community living, neighbors call the cops on each other all the time for noise complaints or about random things,” Patterson said. “If you pull the records of how many times the police were called from an apartment complex, I’d imagine it would be higher than single-family homes, because they’re not as close.”

The Clark Wardle study said areas that include mixed-use residential and commercial buildings have lower crime rates than purely residential areas, except where low-income housing is concentrated. Those areas do see increased levels of crime because of the concentrated poverty, the study said.

In the Boise-area, there are no established “slum living conditions,” Watson said by email. There are pockets of poverty, she said, but not “whole distinct neighborhoods.”

Apartments typically cost less to rent than purchasing single-family homes, so there may be more people living in poverty renting apartments, but Patterson said you can’t sum up all of the factors with crime and poverty into the single statement “apartments bring crime.”

Crimes near apartment complexes

Source: Boise, Meridian and Nampa police departments

272 apartments, 128 houses, 2 big-box stores in 1 Boise-suburb development. What’s coming

Always wanted to own a home? You’re in luck. Boise is selling homes for cheap.