I had an extremely similar situation last year, it was a property I was fixing up to sell, the main contractor had some issues (maybe drinking, drug or gambling) and kept asking me for money saying he needed to pay the crew and has been working really hard.

You can see felonies, evictions, drug offenses, etc. by doing that.  

(Gambling, drugs, divorce and lust)

For example, an experienced plumber may suggest putting hammer arrestors on a plumbing system, to help alleviate potential water hammer problems (knocking noise) and prolong the life of components/fixtures/appliances, but the local building code may not require them.It would also depend on what you are doing the work for and how the deal #'s pencil out.

Keep in mind GDP is not income and taxes, thus we are far above our economic spending level.Drunks, drug addicts and gamblers have to hit bottom before they will self correct.  

The stigma of bad/crazy/poor/drug-using tenants has always deterred me from considering renting to those who have vouchers.

I suppose if someone's felony was some kind of drug use thing 30 years ago and was a one time thing I might consider it.

is there a drug problem in any of those areas ?

Hopefully, you can find data to show it won't all be drug users, crazy parties and sex workers.

Being that this property will be out of state (I live in NYC, property will be purchased in Ohio), I am hoping this should alleviate any concerns of me moving into the property haha!