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Crime-Free Rental Housing Program
 On March 1, 2010 the O’Fallon City Council adopted an ordinance creating a Crime Free Rental Housing program. The ordinance was modeled on a concept developed in Mesa, Arizona, in the early 1990’s in response to escalating crime and drug dealing in their rental communities. Since the program was developed, hundreds of communities across the country, including many in
Illinois, have adopted programs based upon the Mesa model. Across the country, the police spend between six and eight times more resources responding to calls-for-service at rental properties than they do responding to owner occupied properties. With the number of rental properties in O’Fallon continuing to grow, (currently there are more than 3,000 units), it was apparent that action was necessary. The properties included in the program include single family residences, apartments, condominiums, town houses, duplexes, mobile homes and mobile home pads, rooming houses and hotels and motels that offer long term rentals. Property owners will be required to pay a $50 per unit annual fee to cover the cost of the program. Training and property inspections aimed at reducing crime through environmental design will be provided as a part of the $50 cost.
The Crime Free Rental Housing Program teaches rental owners and managers how to keep crime away from their property. The program was developed with input from people on all sides of the issue – not only landlords and property management associations, but legal aid attorneys, tenant advocates, public housing agency personnel, police officers and others. The key to the program is the use of a “crime free addendum” to the lease or rental agreement that informs tenants that they could face eviction if their unit is identified as a nuisance.
The program delivers two important messages: 1) effective property management can have a major impact on the health of a community and; 2) there are simple, legal and fair techniques that can be used to stop the spread of crime in and around rental properties. The program does not teach landlords and property managers to become agents for the police nor does it require that they take any extraordinary actions against their tenants. Rather, the program emphasizes the responsibility that owners/managers have to work with the police to keep crime away from their property.
Training Course Content:
- ORIENTATION: The role of the landlord in keeping neighborhoods healthy and what it takes to build and maintain healthy communities.
- PREPARING THE PROPERTY: How the concept of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) can best be used to prevent illegal activity on rental property.
- APPLICANT SCREENING: How to screen out dishonest applicants while ensuring that honest applicants are encouraged to apply for housing. Identify the warning signs of dishonest applicants.
- RENTAL AGREEMENTS: Approaches that will strengthen the landlord’s ability to evict problem tenants.
- ONGOING MANAGEMENT: How to manage property in a way that discourages illegal behavior and ensures early warning should such behavior occur.
- COMMUNITY BUILDING: How to strengthen the sense of community in multi-family and rental housing and the benefits for managers and residents doing so.
- WARNING SIGNS: What to look for to help identify potential criminal,gang and drug activity.
- CRISIS RESOLUTION: The options, the process and the practical application in situations where illegal activity is suspected.
- WORKING WITH THE POLICE: What to expect, what not to expect and how to get maximum cooperation.
Local Benefits:
- Improved communication and information sharing (regular reporting) between police and landlords.
- Additional police patrols in key areas
- Reduction of crime and calls for service
- Property values maintained
- Reasonable cost solution ($4.17/unit/month)
- Addditional resources available to address problems
- It’s a proactive, crime prevention oriented program
- Formal training to landlords
- Lease addendums and city support
- CPTED site assessment program
At this point, City staff is working on identifying the properties offered for rent in O’Fallon and creating the framework for the program. Applications for the program will be mailed to owners or managers in June, and we hope to begin offering training for the program in July or August. The entire ordinance and answers to frequently asked questions are available for review on the City’s web site www.ofallon.org.
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