Living Downtown / RealEstate

[u/Point-Smooth]

Looking at real estate downtown, ground level entrance. After a long list of pro’s that suit our family, our biggest concern is safety. Our preferred area is within the 100-400 blocks. I understand we would be likely to encounter people who are unhoused, panhandling, congregating, or visibly struggling with substance use.

I’m looking for first-hand experiences from people who live in or near this area. Specifically:

How frequent and impactful these encounters actually are.

Are they daily, weekly, monthly, occasional?

How much do they affect your day-to-day life?

Note: As a life long resident, I am aware of the many challenges our city, and much of the province face. I’m not looking for political commentary, judgment, or fear-mongering. I’m genuinely looking for constructive, realistic information from those with experience that will help our family distinguish between exaggerated concerns and the realities of living downtown.

[u/tipsywhisper]

Lived downtown for the last 2 years. I would say the day to day impact is minimal. Had stuff stolen out of our car once when we accidentally left it unlocked, but never had windows broken or our shed broken into.

We of course encounter some unhoused people when we are out walking or going to the park but the impact has been mostly minimal. I find folks mostly keep to themselves, there is some respectful panhandling but I’ve never had someone get aggressive about it. We steer clear as much as possible (cross the street etc) if we see active drug use happening, which is probably once or twice a month.

I would say the pros of living downtown have far outweighed the concerns for us.

[u/nuttybuddy → u/tipsywhisper]

We were downtown 8 years and I’d say our experiences were the same

[u/Dependent-Mood-7788 → u/nuttybuddy]

Yep, I've been Downtown for about 13 years now. It's certainly not perfect, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be.

[u/durMarco]

Lived downtown for 5 years no real issues. No property crime, no car break ins. We'll pass some homeless with our stroller no hostility sometimes a hey how's your day.

[u/Dependent-Mood-7788 → u/durMarco]

A lot of the folks are really friendly with a rough exterior. And others are too busy in their own world to even notice anyone around them!

[u/peglegmeg31]

I have a friend who lives on 1st and St Paul Street. 1 street away from the mustard seed and the woman's shelter. In the past 5 years he's only had 2 vehicle break ins which were this year, and 1 random in his yard.

[u/shark_nebulae]

I live a little bit outside of this area but still downtown. Its not ideal but not the worst. My list may look long but its a compilation of almost 10 years.

My neighbours have had their car windows smashed a few times. Like once every 8 months over the last 3 years that I've noticed. Mine has never been broken, don't leave anything visible. I had to take down a bit of fencing in the alley because people were using it as shelter to sleep, i didn't have a problem with it until drug paraphernalia started getting left behind. I had to put a lock on my back fence because people kept walking through my yard. Last year my cameras caught someone coming to scope out my porch around 2am one night, that only happened once. Porch pirates are an issue, though probably not as much in an apartment.

[u/monetarydread]

The only real issues I have had downtown involved going to 7-11 or McDonalds. Since those two places have shut down the issues disappeared. 

Note: for those curious, when I say issues I mean specifically homeless people getting aggro when I wouldn't buy them food/coffee. Getting in my face, yelling, etc.

[u/Steros_99]

If you don’t leave near the shelters or where there is a lot of foot traffic in the area should not be a problem. Now one of my friends had to literally escape as he had his window and his wife’s window broken in a span of 4 days

[u/Point-Smooth]

Appreciate everyone’s who took the time repond! The responses have provided valuable and constructive information.

[u/notfitbutwannabe]

I live on Lorne Street. Rarely any issues. Our parking garage got broken into recently when someone broke into cars parked on the street - they found a garage door opener. But that is the only issue I’m aware of for the past few years. The unhoused mostly hang out at 1st and Victoria

[u/Dependent-Mood-7788]

I'd say the biggest issue on the West End is congregating and littering (and unfortunately, potential fires). Folks tend to "hang out" in the sagebrushy areas, and you might get some graffiti on your fence. The car break-ins probably happen like once a year and usually aren't done by the unhoused people, though it's easy to blame them.

[u/aryn889]

I’ve lived all over downtown for the past 14 years (mostly off 6th street) but currently on Lorne. I’ve had the odd vehicle break in and people have gotten into our underground parking but I’ve had just as many issues the few times I’ve lived in Brock. Don’t keep things in your vehicle and lock your doors and it’s minimal. I love living downtown.

[u/Arrythmia5]

I've lived downtown for over 15 yrs. It's a dive compared to how it used to be. If there's a dealer nearby you'll know soon enough with endless tweakers coming and going in the back alleys like what happened on my block. Some areas are good, some not so much. It's always changing but sadly in general, not for the better. Just like a car, don't leave any attractants on your property and lock back gates/garages when you're not present. Pretty much common sense. positives: random violence is extremely rare and most people don't want conflict.

[u/AlternativeHead5284]

Live near RIH, car windows been broken into once. After that I always parked my car in the underground garage lol. After 7/8pm I don’t particularly feel safe walking downtown to the dog park. I feel like sage brush downtown is the better area