Received this text from a tenant. How would you response?

Hello! Sorry to bother, but I want to make you aware that the problem we are having with homeless people has not weakened. This is overall your property so I think it is important that you know what we are dealing with. They are now knocking on our door instead of just wandering around the property. We tried to talk to the police but they genuinely didn’t seem to care and haven’t patrolled out here once since the phone call. No worries, I just wanted you to know what’s happening around the home.

To add more detail, they contacted me about 3 weeks ago about a homeless person had stolen their bicycle and they later caught him on it and confronted him and got it back. I asked them to call the police and report the problem and ask the police to drive by on occasion to check on the problem. The tenants requested to put ring cameras on and I approved it. I also went over there and put up no trespassing signs.

6x6, you got a problem developing where this is happening.

If it was me I'd find out why it's developing. Did the area suddenly get a soup kitchen? A half way house? A "shelter"?

Are there areas where homeless put up tents and have a "hobo jungle"? If so, why? Has some employer gone out of business? Are these people locals or moving into the area?

What are the police and the town doing about it? It's a problem that has the potential to ruin your investment. Like the advance of the slums.

You'll really need to evaluate reasons and then decide how you are going to deal with this. Back in the 60's when the getto's started advancing in many towns, people in the path of this advance saw the problem and left before it got to them. I doubt if they really wanted to sell and move but sometimes there's really no choice, especially if things are not likely to get better. Also, in the 1930's many people in Germany saw coming problems and left before the war started. Those that did not, well, we know what happened. When the general population starts changing and allows things we don't like and it looks like it's not going to change, it's time to accept reality and leave. Just look at New York, Chicago, Philly, LA, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle. The tents in the streets, The riots. The amount of people moving out of those places.

Another thing to do- let your tenant know you will stop over a couple of times a month to walk the property. In the evening, or early morning. ( Obviously, you need to tell tenant each time, in case that's not obvious to anyone. ) Leave tracks, visible signs someone is out and about. My tenant did this when she saw some tracks that someone had gone into the garage. Garage was unlocked, is not used for car parking, as garage needs work. So, she made a point of walking around, morning and evening, putting her large bootprints in the snow ( tall tenant, tall feet.) I added a padlock to the garage, and I made extra stops at the property to walk around as well. Only thing I noticed missing from my garage was a plastic garbage can, which I figured homeless character had taken to sleep in. ( And was NOT paying rent! Squatter!)

If you can, bring a dog with you for some walk-arounds. My beagles would show me exactly where someone was going, if the intruders had been by recently. I'd loan you my doggos, if it weren't for the commute. Then again, beagles wouldn't intimidate anybody, but if you could bring a friends' Rottweiler, those paw prints would give an intruder something to think about.

I have a property that the local homeless people go into the garages and "do things". The tenants will tell me but they also will tell them "move along... this is not your property" and from time to time I do the same thing. If I'm in the area I'll check the property.

This is in downtown of a city and there are homeless people abound unfortunately. Most will just move on and others will be caught a few times a month (they don't remember me I'm sure because the one will say "oh, I know the owner or the tenant and they allow me..." and I cut them off and say "you don't belong here... move on and don't come back".

As a gentle counterpoint to Richard, you could work on getting to know neighbors, getting a sense of community going such that the neighborhood is strengthened, and the homeless population moves on. My daughter's neighborhood seemed to be going down, and several neighbors got together and started taking daily walks, texting each other when they noticed things. Others were using the Neighbors app ( not sure if that's what it is called) to communicate. And, the city put some speed humps on the streets in their subdivision, as it had been getting used as a cut-through for evading cops on the major streets outside the subdivision. There is still the occasional event, where a bad actor pulls something, but, overall, there is a pretty good sense of community.

Oh, and another thought on deterring trespassers: I encourage tenants put out holiday lights by providing outside outlets. I have even donated an extra photo sensor timer so their light display turned on automatically. Extra light not only discourages trespassers, but helps tenants see ice patches when bringing the kids or the groceries home.

Richard, thank you for that insight.

"If it was me I'd find out why it's developing. Did the area suddenly get a soup kitchen? A half way house? A "shelter"?"

There has been a soup kitchen, shelters and some camping out under bridges near and in the area for a while.

"Are there areas where homeless put up tents and have a "hobo jungle"? If so, why? Has some employer gone out of business? Are these people locals or moving into the area?"

We have had a lot of transplants here for a long time and exponentially since the scamdemic. Also, a few months back I saw a post on a tenant union group where there were hundreds of evictions on the docket for one particular day. I suspect a lot of it is from evictions.

"What are the police and the town doing about it? "

The police are pretty much worthless around here and so is the town clown. There has been discussion on the news a short time or two about affordable housing, shelters for the winter, and food locations. There has been lots and lots of apartment building but that doesn't fix the homeless situation if the reason is eviction. But the news won't say that. We have to make the Mayor look good and all.

"You'll really need to evaluate reasons and then decide how you are going to deal with this."

If this were at my personal home, I know exactly how I would deal with it, but I won't be able to do that at the rental

Busy, thanks for the added suggestions and offering the dogs.

Jonny, that will be part of my approach.

To everyone, I thank you for the continued feedback and advise. I have sent an email to the mayor and left a message with the police.

This is sad, but you want your tenants to feel safe. Motion activated lights- install,post no trespassing signs with big dogs on them.. like.. I can make it to the gate in three seconds can you ? Big dog bowls on the front and back step, with names like Hercules on them.Fence the property and post trespassers will be prosecuted. Other than having pitbulls run the property lines, that's about it. You cannot rely on the authorities, homeless people know how to dodge them. And I agree get ready to sell. This will only bring down your values.

If you install outdoor electrical sockets, that is simply an invitation for the homeless to use your outlet for charging phones and using electrical appliances.

Outdoor water spigots become a neighborhood water-bottle filling station and a wash-up location. One of my security cameras gets an eyeful of a bum cleaning his bum every night -- at least he is clean!

The homeless population is growing and I have no solution.

My reply to the tenants:

Thank you for the information. Try to capture a good photo on your ring camera of the person(s) knocking on the door - that can be shared with police.

If you feel threatened by someone banging on your door, you might want to call 911 and tell them someone is trying to break in.

I do care about your comfort and safety, and will try to do whatever I can to help the situation improve. (that is purposely vague)

I agree with going up the police chain of command. When I had trespasser trouble back when, I spoke to the police wanting to partner with them to reduce crime in the area & asked them exactly what I needed to do to be most effective. The officers were very helpful and explained clearly what to post & what to file with the magistrate, etc.

I also agree it will get worse, but you must take action now to try to stop or slow it down. Have you been to a town council meeting to contacted local media?

or

6x6, Just be careful if you elect to have dogs involved. Some of the homeless types will just poison them (I say this from much experience, having lost several good dogs to poison).

They don't care about locks either --- they just cut them or kick the doors in or break windows.

Something is attracting them and keeping them in the area. Whatever it is, either you and like minded people eliminate it or it will over run you.

Thanks Plenty, what is a ward representative?

Good idea Ken and NE.

Before you try something like a sprinkler on a motion detector, remember that the homeless are often suffering from mental issues, and that the homeless are in the area of your rental property 24 hours a day, whereas you leave every day for work.

If you soak them with the sprinkler, it is likely that your tenant will find a brick in the living room. With a lot of broken glass that has to be cleaned up. Next, the tenant will find his car doors scratched. And lots of other vandalism. Is this a war you can win?

Ever wonder what happened to the world's caboose cars? Up here we offer homeless free lodging for the night in these cabooses. In the middle of the night they go for a ride down south.

Okay - we don't do that....but mother nature does it with our weather up here.

To get an idea of how bad your problem is, ask yourself if you were homeless, when would you be sleeping during a 24 period. Outdoors is full of danger, so typically these folks will lay low during the day light hours and stay awake at night when thugs might be lurking. So if these sightings are during the day beyond normal pan handling, you have a widespread issue.

Homeless have a social order within their own community. You can try to reason with that social order, or you can accept it. Homelessness is real and understanding that these folks do have names and don't follow our established norms is good start. Find out what motivates them. Could be mental illness or drugs - or maybe just the life style

In the end though, if you have a widespread issue with the decline of a location, you should look elsewhere. - away from where we send our homeless population.

If bums are wandering and bold enough to knock on doors, you'll be selling at a loss. There's no where to escape this as creeping incrementalism mainly by "Ds" marches on. Crime is swept under the rug, murderers receive "appearance tickets."