Rental Properties and Crime

An interesting article in the Strib regarding Hopkins' idea to reduce crime in and near its rental properties. The proposal is basically that Hopkins will hire a second city inspector and to pay for it, rental property owners will faced increased fees. It is designed with single-family and duplex rental properties in mind, but townhome developments would be included, and who's to say where it will end.

To me, it seems that this ordinance could possibly be punishing the majority of good property owners on the behalf of a handful of negligent ones. Two points stood out in the article, however.

One is that all new leases will allow eviction for various offenses and criminal acts. This should help with those properties that seem to be visited by the police frequently, and will give landlords a good, legal basis to remove those people.

Second, is that managers' who participate in a crime-free education program will receive discounts on their fees. While this seems like a good idea, I question its effectiveness and its redundancy. With organizations like the MHA, now chaired by our own Frank French, already creating education programs for its members, isn't there educational resources available already?

It's important that we work with local governments on issues like this to ensure that responsible property owners and managers like TGG is not punished unnecessarily for programs designed to regulate those "problem properties" who refuse to do so themselves. We need to make sure that ordinances like this are, sound and effective, not simply well-intentioned.