They are very common in Germany and are in general really safe, the only crime going on there was smoking pot (which is not a crime anymore). I myself did not grow up in one, but many friends have and I still frequently visit people there. Floors, stairs and elevators are clean, neighbours greet you, when someone new moves in its common to help them as a neighbour.

Recently one of these houses was in the news "weißer Riese" in Duisburg because of crime. Now Duisburg is basically Germanys Detroit, used to be a coal mining city and has nothing else going on for it (still the homicide rate for Duisburg is 20x lower than for Detroit lol). And this house is 55years old and has been neglected by the developers, so rent for an apartment there is basically the lowest of any German city and in Germanys most undesirable city and somehow people wonder why there is some crime and this becomes the stereotype for all "commie blocks".

But for every commie block like that you get 1000 others that are really safe and clean, offer cheap rent, are energy efficient as fuck, some even have their own bus or train stations, big playground in the middle and usually more on the edge of the city so closer to nature.

This stereotype thing about commie blocks always reminds me of the american homeless people sleeping in tents in front of the "victims of communism" museum...

All the Projects in major cities are an example. But it isn’t the buildings’ fault. It just putting a lot of poor people with lots of problems all in one place tends to concentrate all the ills that go along with poverty.

These commies blocks don't just look ugly, they tend to become a crime riddled dump

It will surprise you, but this is other way around. Hruschevkas have less crime than modern humant colonies.

The alternative, tent cities like skid row, are pretty crime-heavy. I've never heard about commie blocks being especially crime ridden, but I guess you have good reason to say what you did and aren't just pulling it straight out your ass.

Cabrini Green immediately comes to mind. The police used to get sniped in the parking lot.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabrini%E2%80%93Green_Homes