Swansea to decide fate of crime-free housing program. What residents should know
On Monday night, Swansea’s Board of Trustees will consider repealing its voluntary crime-free housing program.
The program, established in 2018, requires participating landlords to evict renters if the tenants or their guests are charged with a felony in a crime that takes place at the rental property.
Swansea’s rules also require eviction for three ordinance violations at a rental property within a six-month period. It offers exceptions to tenants who are disabled.
But police and village officials who support the repeal describe the program as burdensome and ineffective, producing no “measurable improvements to rental property conditions or community safety.”
That’s according to recent committee meeting discussions about the program and a staff memo to the trustees recommending repeal.
Among those who support the proposed repeal are Building and Zoning Director Dan Thomas and Police Chief Matthew Blomberg. They say the village can manage crime and nuisances at rental properties without the program through policing and code enforcement activity.
The officials note that the village has not implemented all the provisions of the crime-free housing ordinance.
The ordinance had envisioned the following:
- The village offers training for participating landlords on topics such as applicant screening and rental law.
- Police send participating landlords notices about crime on their properties triggering evictions.
- A village committee provides oversight by analyzing crime statistics and program outcomes and responding to any community concerns. The village president appoints members, including homeowners, landlords, trustees, real estate agents and property managers.
Swansea officials say the landlord training has only happened twice, and the committee was never created.
They described compiling, organizing and sending notices as an administrative burden on the village and suggested landlords could instead read the crime blotter or contact the police department for incident reports at their properties.
“Staff has remained pretty consistent on the relative lack of value of this program. There’s, I think, a lot of wasted efforts administratively for very little to no actual benefit for the residents,” Village Administrator Ben Schloesser said during a committee meeting earlier this month.
Trustee Cary Lewis V compared it to the war on drugs, an effort to reduce drug crimes by increasing enforcement and penalties. Critics question its effectiveness.
“It gave the idea that it was really doing something, but in all actuality, it did not necessarily work,” Lewis said of the crime-free housing program. “It sounds good on paper, but it doesn’t actually do anything.”
“Our police department is doing a great job with working with code enforcement, and if we keep up with that standard… I believe that we will be more than fine without crime-free housing,” Lewis added.
Schloesser noted that Thomas’ department has hired a full-time code enforcement officer, which it never had before.
Concern about landlord resources
At the committee meeting, former village trustee Richard “Rocky” McDonald raised concerns about resources for Swansea landlords.
McDonald said he attended the two landlord training sessions led by Thomas’ predecessors.
“There was a lot of helpful information passed on to landlords that they were not aware of,” he said, such as where to get criminal background checks.
McDonald suggested modifying the program instead of repealing it so that the village could still provide resources to landlords, possibly through meetings. In response, Blomberg said the village could host meetings even without the crime-free housing ordinance.
Swansea has 367 landlords, according to Thomas. Of those, 259 participate in the crime-free housing program.
The program is voluntary because Swansea cannot mandate participation as a non-home rule municipality, officials said. If landlords sign up to participate, they pay a lower fee to register their rental properties with the village: $25 instead of $100.
The village’s Community and Economic Development Committee voted May 4 to send the proposed repeal to the board to consider.
The Village Board of Trustees will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, May 18, at the Administrative Meeting Board Room at 1444 Boul Ave. in Swansea.
