It became a "hotbed" for some of the most serious of crimes.
With a transient population, low property standards and lack of established communities, the Bensham area of Gateshead often attracted all the wrong people. With 70% of properties being privately rented, with a high turnover of tenants, the area proved an attractive place for criminals to exploit.
And police say the low demand for homes in the area has resulted in flats and houses being used as brothels, cannabis farms or bases for County Lines drug dealers.
But Northumbria Police and Gateshead Council are working together on a joint initiative to drive crime out of Bensham, by making it a better place to live. And they say since the launch of Operation Vienna life is getting better for law-abiding residents of Bensham.
Insp Kevin Ashurst, of Northumbria Police, said: "The decision was made to target that area and put the resources in. If you can keep Bensham fairly quiet the rest of the area follows."
And Christine Oates, a senior environmental health officer at Gateshead Council, explained why Bensham had become the focus of attention.
She said: "Seventy per cent of the properties are privately rented. Properties are in low demand and have a high turnover of tenants. Property standards are fairly poor and there's problems with anti-social behaviour and high levels of crime.
"The whole purpose of the scheme is to drive up the area, improve housing standards and reduce anti-social behaviour."
Operation Vienna was launched in 2018 in a bid to stop Bensham being used by criminals. The area is now a Selective Landlord Licensing area, which means that anyone wanting to rent out property in the area will have to apply to the council for a licence and be subject to regular monitoring.
There are three dedicated police officers working on Operation Vienna, and they share information with the council about what is going on in the area and what properties are being used for.
PC Brian Simpson, one of the officers, explained: "Bensham was always the key area, it was always the hotbed of everything that happens. It's not somewhere like Felling where we have got an established residential population. It's more fluid. And because people are so transient people don't notice things as much."
Insp Ashurst said the transient nature of the population had enabled properties to be used for drug dealing, or set up as brothels without being noticed.
"We have got people coming into the area for dealing," he said. "Properties are so easy to get that people don't notice, they just fit in."
"They are also being used for sex exploitation. We unfortunately find young females who are missing from home are often found in that specific area."
But Christine explained that by working together police and the council can stop these criminals operating under the radar in Bensham properties.
"Every landlord has to apply for a licence," she explained. "We would also hold a landlord meeting at the time of getting the licence, then there's conditions attached to the licence, which we monitor over a five-year period.
"We work in cooperation with the police on a daily basis and there's information sharing."
PC Danielle Shorten, who works on the operation, says this sharing of information had proved invaluable while fighting crime, and having dedicated officers working in Bensham had helped improve the relationship with the community.
"The good thing is the information sharing and sitting down and using a joint approach," she said. "When we first came over in September last year we identified an area where there was a lot of serious crimes. There was a lot of joint partnership work and it's really settled down.
"I think when people see our faces all they time they know they can speak to us. We have a lot more people approaching us now."
And PC Simpson added: "I think this gives people the confidence to report more and they will see that we are doing something. If they report it they will see a difference
"It's not an easy area for criminals to exploit now. We know from people we talk to that they are avoiding certain areas.
"It's like proper old fashioned neighbourhood policing. There's definitely a big improvement, but we have got to keep at it."
