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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Problem with Crime-Free Housing Ordinances _ ACLU of Minnesota1/22/2019 The Problem with Crime-Free Housing Ordinances | ACLU of Minnesota https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/problem-crime-free-housing-ordinances 1/4 ACLU of Minnesota AUTHOR Eric Hauge (/en/biographies/eric-hauge) JUNE 19, 2018 Er ic Hauge is the executive director of HOME Line, a nonprofit organization that provides f ree legal , organizing, educational , and advocacy ser vices so tenants throughout Minnesota can solve their own rental housing problems. Lear n more at homelinemn .org (https://homelinemn.org).  As a Minnesot a-based stat ewide tenant rights organization that advises roughly 15,000 rent er households annually, our organization (http://homelinemn.org) has witnessed numerous Minnesota cities adopting rent al housing disorderly conduct, nuisance, and/or crime- free ordinances (hereafter abbreviated CFOs) over the past 20 years. In general these ty pes of ordinances provide cities the ability to issue penalties t o landlords or revoke rental licenses if there is repeated disorderly, nuisance or criminal behavior occurring at or around their rental property. THE PROBLEM WITH CRIME-FREE HOUSING ORDINANCES 1/22/2019 The Problem with Crime-Free Housing Ordinances | ACLU of Minnesota https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/problem-crime-free-housing-ordinances 2/4 A little over a year ago HOME Line initiated a preliminary analysis outlining a list of metro-area communities that have enacted local ordinances governing conduct at rental properties. T he research identified nearly 50 cities in the 7-count y T win Cities metro area that regulat e such activities within rental housing, most of which penalize landlords in some fashion if they do not pursue lease termination and/or eviction for certain activities. In 18 cities, codes require that landlords include detailed lease language or lease addendums that outline specific “good causes” for t ermination of the tenancy. This analysis prompted key questions. Are these ordinances actually helping prevent crime? How are tenants notified of such actions? How might CFOs influence tenants perceptions about their ability t o seek emergency assistance? HOME Line is concerned about how CFOs potentially lead to harmful outcomes for tenants—both in their direct enforcement on individual families as well as related to broader implications on rent ers’ rights to fair, safe, and uninfringed access to police and emergency ser vices. We regularly advise tenants about public safet y concerns and we want cities to care about and regulate rental housing t o ensure decent , safe, healthy housing. Cities asking t enants to follow the law and requiring landlords to protect their tenants from criminal actions against them is not inherently bad, but cer tainly the details around implementation and community perception of such regulation could contr ibute t o fear of calling for help or even unjust involunt ary displacement. And details matter—they can mean the difference between a police- related call counting against a landlord or a call for emergency assistance or a response to domestic abuse already exempted from such penalties by Minnesota state law (https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/504b.205). Fur ther, on a national level, the U.S. Depar tment of Housing and Urban Development issued guidance in 2016 (https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/FINALNU ISANCEORDGDNCE.PDF) 1/22/2019 The Problem with Crime-Free Housing Ordinances | ACLU of Minnesota https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/problem-crime-free-housing-ordinances 3/4 outlining that enforcement of these local policies, depending on the scenario, could be a violation of the Fair Housing Act . HOME Line suppor ts the ACLU’s legal challenge (https://www.aclu- mn.org/en/news/minnesota-citys-ordinance-illegally-targets-people-color-rental- housing) to the Cit y of Faribault’s Rental Licensing Ordinance for a number of reasons. First , Faribault’s cr ime-free ordinances are among the most aggressive that HOME Line has reviewed while advising renters throughout Minnesota. T he city requires cr iminal background screening of all adult prospective tenants, retention of that information, and release of the information to the city. Second, landlords are ordered to “actively pursue the eviction of the tenants or termination of the lease with the t enants who violate the terms of the lease and/or the crime-free/ drug-free housing lease addendum.” Lastly, the occupancy standards included in Faribault’s Rental Licensing chapt er are above and beyond what many cities require, and they are enforced only on residential rental proper ties. T hese standards, intentionally or not , directly and without cause impact families and children, and they appear to be specifically targeting Faribault’s Somali population. In most Minnesota cities, rental proper ties are simply regulat ed under the same occupancy standards as other residential properties (commonly within zoning or fire codes). Considering that Faribault’s ordinances are more intr usive than most Minnesot a cities where HOME Line advises renters, and that it appears that the drive t o enact or intensify these provisions were in response to the changing demographics of the city, we agree that the city should repeal these ordinances immediately and work with renters, advocates, and community stakeholders to reform local rental licensing policies. For tunately, some Minnesota cities are taking note of the impacts of CFOs. For example, Minneapolis cit y council member Phillipe Cunningham has moved for ward on changes (http://www.star tribune.com/minneapolis-reconsiders-its-eviction-oriented- 1/22/2019 The Problem with Crime-Free Housing Ordinances | ACLU of Minnesota https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/problem-crime-free-housing-ordinances 4/4 approach-t o-landlords/485045801/) to the city’s Conduct on Premises ordinances following a critical repor t on the impact of the policy by the Police Conduct Oversight Commission (https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/RCA/4711/Eviction%20Study%20v2.1.pdf). Other cities should take Minneapolis’s lead on evaluating the impacts of their local CFOs (prioritizing a racial equity lens in such reviews), considering amending CFOs to include impor tant tenant protections, and identify other key changes to ensure these ordinances comply with while also affirmatively fur thering Fair Housing.