The biggest problem that leads to residents and non residents loitering is the fact that they have nothing to do. I have always advocated sponsoring boy/girl scout groups and allow them to have activities and meetings on site. Another venue is reading challenges (get with your local library or bookstore), sports teams (contact your city's rec department), and homework help (while school is in session, if you have a resident that is a substitute teacher for the local school district; hire that person for a few hours a week and offer a small discount on the rent in exchange).

Hey John,

Volunteers are not hard to get depending on the demographics of the community. You can even get outside sources in to do work that is worthwhile to the community and city as a whole!

Sometimes kids have a passion for something and they can actually volunteer to teach others in certain healthy areas. I would experiment with my kids when they were at home by hooking them up to electrodes and seeing where I got the best response! OK, just wanted to see if you were still reading ;) I would challenges my kids to come up with ideas and I would bounce ideas against them. There were many things that were successful and they came right from the people that we wanted to redirect that energy and talent.

But, the community has to feel like they are a community and that they can take care of their village. When you have people welcoming the new arrivals and telling them all what is going on in their community, you know you have a winner!

The residents I have found respond to a call to action when there is something that is compelling. I normally held what I called little town hall meetings. I would put out fliers later in the computer age I used them as well to put something out that would draw the tenants out. Something which if they were not there said that they did not care or did not have children for instance if it involved the children as it does in this case. My meetings were all known as, "A Call to Action"! In this case I would have a line, "If You Care About Your Children and Their Welfare". We are telling the parents if they do not show up they do not care, but we have not put it into words. Parents know each other and those that do not show up will get the information from their friends that do show up. Those that just skipped out are embarrassed into showing up next time and those that have to work will have a way of finding out as well, through your community information lines.

I found the best call to action when it is not one where it is directed and people are told what they will do, but to facilitate, present the problem and ask for some ideas from the community. The first couple of times maybe slow and may not give you the immediate progress but stick with it as there will be those who come to see if it is even worth it to come.

Just like in some communities they have neighborhood watch programs; it can be started locally as an example.

We have even been sneaky and had little private rewards for information leading to the arrest of people that have done damage to our properties and it has been successful. We did not go in and handle it, but turned it over to the legal folks as persons of interest.

Heck give an old WWII or Vietnam vet the challenge and they will go in there and square it away in a heartbeat! Hey, I was not serious, just making a little fun there!

Agreed: the true key is the relationship between the Property firm | Residents and the need to share the responsibility. It is an on going challenge.

The problem is even if it is the kids doing it, oftentimes the kids are not the Residents of the community. It is usually those of middle school and high school age, who are least resistant to involvement in after school clubs (although I recognize many do like them.) The other problem is when someone calls the Office to say they know people are in the hallways, by the time the police or Manager arrive, the people are gone. So, it is a great idea to inform all Residents of the community that this is a problem and you need their help. Installing working cameras (and they do make some pretty indestructible ones) and keeping common area hallways locked as a keyed access or fob system is expensive and not affordable for many communities. So, it has to become not just the property management company's issue, but also every Resident's issue and they can implement a Neighborhood Watch Group to walk the property during the hours of the reported activity. This really can deter delinquent behavior.

Your more right than you think Nate. The subject of "after School activities" has been an on going challenge for many school districts. Considering budget cuts many have none at all.

We have also seen the debate where putting this responsibility on the school(teachers)is a bit much. Your idea revolves around "volunteering". I wish I had a more consistent schedule. Totally respect the parents that do work around their schedule and professional responsibilities and take an active role.