West Seattle High Point safety? (Burien, White Center: low income, 2013, renter)

[sj721]

hi all
I'm considering a home near 24th Ave and Sylvan at High Point. The price and floor plan are good but I heard the neighbourhood can be concerning. Can someone shine some light? In particular, I'm interested in:

- safety: during the day? during the night? are there violent crimes like murder and stuff? I checked the map from 2013. high point seems ok but the block south looks bad.
- gang activity: I heard this was going on in the past. Is it still a thing?
- changes over time: did things get better? worse?
- other things I should know?

thanks a bunch!

[Flightoficarus87]

High Point isn't the greatest neighborhood, nor the worst in Seattle. For a long time, it was mainly a low-income neighborhood (It was once home to housing projects, which were torn down). In more recent years (over the past decade or so), it has seen quite a bit of re-development, with new housing, roads, etc being built in that time.

Crime tends to be a bit more concentrated along Delridge Way/the south Delridge area, than High Point itself.

[CrazyDonkey]

In general, rising rents/housing prices are pushing poverty and crime (they are connected) southward, increasingly beyond the city limits, so I wouldn't be too worried about it creeping back northward. Generally if you're looking for more attractively priced houses, you're going to have to look in semi-marginal but improving areas that are neither "good" nor "bad", or look a good deal further out.

In general, the more you're in north Delridge, than south Delridge, the better.

[sj721]

awesome, thank you for the insights!

[MondoTime]

Originally Posted by sj721

hi all
I'm considering a home near 24th Ave and Sylvan at High Point. The price and floor plan are good but I heard the neighbourhood can be concerning. Can someone shine some light? In particular, I'm interested in:

- safety: during the day? during the night? are there violent crimes like murder and stuff? I checked the map from 2013. high point seems ok but the block south looks bad.
- gang activity: I heard this was going on in the past. Is it still a thing?
- changes over time: did things get better? worse?
- other things I should know?

thanks a bunch!

Hmmmmmmph,

Interpretations of that area might vary widely, for while there are a number of businesses very nearby (big Home Depot store, ARCO gas station, Shell gas station, the Tug Tavern/Inn...) the area just isn't progressing and/or modernizing much beyond that.

Because you'd be very near to the arterial that is Delridge Way, you can proooooobably expect to walk with reasonable safety in the neighborhood.

Unfortunately the hills and greenery in the area sort of (demand) that much of the human traffic (foot, bus, car) goes right through your little area, assuring for some years to follow that the Delridge/Sylvan area won't get much better than it is.

(were this a flat city, with a 'grid' street plan (in that area)... then there wouldn't be such a concentrated element of concern, but as Sylvan Way is among very few east-west access routes, surrounded by lots of nature and trees, the whole area is over-run by society)

Twenty-five years ago it was still very much the same (aside from the Home Depot having then been a K-Mart, which really brought'em out and around). Indeed High Point of 25 and 35 years ago was all housing project, and more recently it has been replaced by this modern idea of luring decent-minded people into paying 'full price' for homes intermixed and side-by-side with others who are being helped out by the government. So perhaps the segment of society being drawn down Sylvan Way isn't quite as potent as it once was. And hey, there's still a cemetery right there should the need arise.

Perhaps it could be said that the bus service along Delridge Way IS better than was the case 25 years ago, but that's only IF you want to be waiting for a bus along Delridge Way...


(deep, contemplative breath: )


IF, say, you were somebody who was really skilled with buying and fixing-up homes for resale, there would be some concerns with that particular area due to the limited upside potential for home prices.

IF, by contrast, you were someone who drove everywhere, and perhaps did not work in central Seattle, and who just needed a convenient place to live, at an affordable price, then perhaps that area would make sense.

Among the better elements about West Seattle is that it isn't on the way to anywhere (significant) and for that reason, m-m-m-m-m-mOST of West Seattle is comfortable and low-crime. Unfortunately, the Delridge/Sylvan area basically sucks/lures the remnants from High Point's dreary past as a housing project right down Sylvan Way and past your would-be area... while at the same time the path along Delridge sucks lots and lots of people to and fro each day, on your shared bus route, from deteriorating Burien, White Center, and central Seattle.

Cross-reference that to Seattle having many hills, and the fact that vast numbers of the wealthy people want to live on the hills, with the views... leaving the low-lying areas to be more concentrated with the, uh, non-wealthy.


There just isn't any ideal way to effectively summarize just exactly whether Delridge/Sylvan/24th suits you or not.

[highpointneedsimprovement]

Hi,

I live in highpoint. It's pretty safe. But, I don't like the mixed socioeconomic low income housing. Let me be clear - I don't care about race as our 'buyers' neighborhood is very mixed - what I am beginning to hate is the integration of the low income rental housing.

Let me preface - I come from a pretty poor family so I didn't want to be judgmental. Big mistake - my childhood experience of crappy disrespectful neighbors came roaring back quickly. I live right along the low income line (the whole block directly behind me is low income housing only separated by a tiny little fence). Most of the people are fine and keep to themselves - but my neighbors directly behind me really kind of suck. They are unfriendly as I and my wife made an effort immediately to be friendly and our efforts were ignored. My first day sitting outside with my infant son I heard the N word probably 100 times while the gentleman was talking on the cell w/ his friend. They are always leaving different dogs outside barking - now it's a pit-bull, I can't believe the SHA allows this. They are always outside hanging out in the cars with the stereo's on (the cars point right into our back yard), always different guests who let their dog poop everywhere (not their yard but everyone else's) and don't clean it up etc. We've had to call security on them at least 10-15 times in the first 5 months we lived here. There is no alley way and the only thing separating my back yard and theirs is a tiny little 3-4 foot largely gapped fence. You almost literally share a back yard. It sucks. If you want to replace the fence (increase height and close the gaps) the SHA thens owns 1/2 of it but you get the joy of paying the full cost.

It has become increasingly clear that their is a HUGE difference in the attitude of a low income renter and someone who has worked their tail off to buy a place.

IF you can get a house NOT close to the low income areas that would be ideal. This is my experience in highpoint. Our crappy neighbors have really soured the experience.

Remember this - regardless of everything that's available and good and available about West Seattle and the highpoint neighborhood it can all easily be destroyed by the wrong type of neighbors. Be careful.

[MondoTime]

For the record: ALL of that last guy's response makes complete sense and reads like a list of reasons why you don't want to live in High Point.


(many months too late, for sure)