Judge Robert Moore said the Lowedges estate "has been lost to drug culture" and "ruined by heroin addiction".
He said retailers had been forced to close down their businesses, locals had to barricade their homes for security, and people were terrified even to walk to the shops.
And he warned that the nearby neighbourhood of Greenhill was going the same way.
The judge said: "Lowedges, on the edge of open countryside, used to be a lovely place to live and to grow up, but it has been ruined by heroin addiction.
"The shops are boarded up and people live in home-made fortresses and fear even walking to the shops. It has been lost to drug culture."
He added: "Greenhill is not that bad, but it is going that way."
The judge spoke out as he jailed Brendan Flynn, Julie Tankard and junkie grandmother Rae Stockdale for a total of 11 years after they were caught in an undercover police operation.
The trio, who have a string of previous convictions for possessing drugs, were snared as they hawked heroin on the streets of Greenhill, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
Jailing them, Judge Moore said: "The police operation was targeted mainly at the suburbs of Lowedges and Greenhill.
"This operation was almost certainly stimulated by public pressure.
"The police do everything they can with limited manpower and the courts must do everything possible to help the public - and deterrent sentences are needed for this."
Flynn, a 46-year-old unemployed heroin addict, repeatedly sold the drug to two undercover police officers working for Operation Mayfly - a crackdown on low-level street dealers in south Sheffield, the court heard.
Tankard, a former foster mum who slipped into heroin addiction when her dad died, accompanied Flynn as they drove to the scene in disabled Stockdale's mobility car.
Judge Moore said the deals to the undercover officers were a "snapshot" of the trio's operation.
He said Tankard and Flynn were "always available" when called by addicts needing a fix.
The pair were arrested together in their home in The Greenway, Greenhill, and later pleaded guilty to possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply. They were each jailed for four years and nine months.
Stockdale, of Reney Avenue, Lowedges, who has a 31-year criminal history, admitted being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs and was jailed for 12 months.
The court heard how years of drug abuse have left the 51-year-old a "physical and emotional wreck", suffering from hepatitis and circulation problems.
Richard Sheldon, defending Stockdale, said: "Those who take recreational drugs really ought to meet her to see what the future holds."