How bad is Chatham Square? (Alexandria, Abingdon: real estate, rent , housing)

[pandoragrl]

I've lived in Old Town for the past year and love it. However, I'm looking for a new place to rent because my current place is too expensive, and have an option to rent a room in a house in Chatham Square on the block next to a housing project. I've heard stories about the crime rates being higher, etc, but I'm wondering realistically how much of a problem the area is. I'm a mid-20s female, so safety is definitely an issue for me, but I find it hard to believe that people would actually spend 700k to over a million on a house that is in an unsafe area (maybe I'm naive about the whole NOVA real estate market though!).

Anyway, I just wanted to get people's thoughts - I'm considering this because I really don't want to move any further North (Abingdon, Slaters Lane, etc) because I enjoy being able to walk a few blocks and be at King Street/Old Town Farmers Market, etc. I'm hoping some of you with more experience in Alexandria will have a bit more perspective on this issue. Thank you in advance for the feedback!

[ACWhite]

Did you see this thread:

505 E Braddock Rd, Alexandria, VA 22314 bad area???

In particular, you may be interested in the link to the police crime reports search function on p. 2 of the thread.

[pandoragrl]

Thank you, I'll definitely check that feature out!