Letter: Crime-Free Housing policies should be made illegal

Paul Arena

The Transform Rockford section in the Sunday paper included information on Crime-Free Housing policies. Crime-Free Housing are government-forced evictions resulting from accusations of criminal behavior.

The policy mandates that all leases include language which states that when a tenant, a member of the tenant’s household or a guest of the tenant is accused of a crime, they have violated their lease.

The landlord is then penalized if they do not enforce the lease and evict the tenant. Crime-Free Housing is a feel-good name for an immoral policy. The Residential Quality Support Ordinance which Rockford adopted has no Crime-Free Housing component. Our approach is to mediate the situation first and use eviction as a last resort.

The Rockford Apartment Association is a member of the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association. The position of IRPOA is that government forced evictions of families should be made illegal. Our partner groups in IRPOA are beginning to have success fighting abusive rental housing regulations. The department of Housing and Urban Development responded to complaints and is currently investigating the policies of Granite City, Illinois, to determine if that ordinance, which includes Crime-Free Housing, is discriminatory. RAA would strongly oppose the implementation of Crime-Free Housing policies in this area.

Source: rrstar