Backwards thinking on housing behavioral issues.
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posted by Bob at Tuesday, July 31, 2007
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
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13 Comments:
Suburbs are cracking down on landlords who own rental properties that cause repeated calls to the police.
By Laurie Blake, Star Tribune
Last update: July 30, 2007 – 10:07 PM
When groups of teenagers started coming and going at all hours from a rental duplex in St. Louis Park's Aquila neighborhood last year, residents saw their quiet corner of the city change.
One resident had to fend off a purse snatching as she passed the duplex on her way to work. Another neighbor found teenagers scrambling over the roof of his garage to escape police. And everyone objected to the teens walking down the street five or six abreast, flagrantly blocking the path of cars and, in one case, banging in the door of a driver who honked at them.
"Lots of people said they were afraid to go out," said Betty Deane, who has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years. "It made me feel really badly because it's been such wonderful, wonderful neighborhood.'
Eventually the renters were evicted, and peace and quiet were restored. But the experience convinced St. Louis Park police that they needed more legal power to deal with problem renters. The city is now the latest in a string of suburbs, including Mounds View, Hopkins, Burnsville, Bloomington, Woodbury and New Brighton, to adopt laws cracking down on rental properties that draw repeated police calls.
The calls are for everything from loud parties to gang activity.
With a new ordinance that takes effect Aug. 10, St. Louis Park will require landlords to evict tenants who deal drugs, commit violent crime or repeatedly disturb neighbors. If they fail to evict tenants at the prompting of police, landlords face a $750 a month fine.
Brooklyn Park, which already has a rental ordinance, is considering going a step further by seizing rent at poorly maintained properties and holding it in escrow until repairs are made.
Lease must list bad behaviors
St. Louis Park police say rental property generates a disproportionate number of police calls. Last year, six of the 10 most frequently visited addresses were rental properties.
The ordinance requires landlords to pay $25 for a day of training on how to maintain safe housing. They also must use a lease that spells out behavior that will lead to eviction if tenants are arrested, ticketed or frequently warned by police.
The owner of the duplex that set off the push for the ordinance in St. Louis Park, Anthony Vogel, said he favors it and thinks it will give landlords needed leverage in dealing with renters. Vogel, of St. Paul, said Thursday that the duplex in the Aquila neighborhood is his first and only rental property, and he was naive about bad behavior by renters. He said he didn't know his renters were plaguing the neighborhood until police called and he was "heartbroken" to hear it.
Another owner of rental property in St. Louis Park, Jeff Fine, said the ordinance puts an unfair burden on landlords, who "don't have police powers."This is nothing more than the bureaucrats in the city of St. Louis Park and our elected officials coming forth publicly with an excuse for not addressing criminal issues and problems that exist," said Fine, who owns apartment buildings in the city through his company Fine Management.
Dan Goldman, another St. Louis Park rental property owner, said most landlords get rid of troublemakers on their own and drug-free, crime-free lease provisions are nothing new. "The property owners who operate their properties the right way right now -- this doesn't affect them."'
Other suburbs take action
Other communities report favorable results with the ordinances.
In Hopkins, where 65 percent of housing is rental, the city adopted its ordinance in 2003. Police sent out 78 notices to landlords during the first few years and 20 so far this year, said police Capt. Tony Hanlin. Landlords notified three times about the same problem could lose their license. So far all problems have been solved after the first or second notice, Hanlin said.
Likewise, in Brooklyn Park, if police are called to a rental property three times, "you have lost your license to rent," said Gary Brown, director of engineering and building inspections for the city.
To gain even more control over problem landlords, Brooklyn Park is considering a program to seize rent at properties that are not properly maintained. "We think that will get the landlords' attention," Brown said.
Brooklyn Park is also stepping up oversight of problem rental properties as part of its Neighborhood Action Program aimed at reducing crime and improving life in the city. Already, 175 unlicensed rental properties have been identified and licensed, Capt. Jeff Ankerfelt said. And in a sweep last week, 20 people were arrested including people who failed to produce rental agreements, and one property was condemned.
Residents in Brooklyn Park have praised the push to improve neighborhoods and reduce crime -- violent crime spiked 26 percent in 2006 over 2005, though it has dropped 4 percent so far this year. "There's a consistent theme [to the public response] ... there's a sense of hope out there," Ankerfelt said.
Burnsville adopted a rental ordinance in January 2006 after having repeated police calls over several years to four properties around the city, said police Sgt. Jeff Witte. "You should be able to live next door to a good neighbor and you want your neighborhoods to be safe," Witte said. "That's what we are trying to promote."
In St. Louis Park, Deputy Chief of Police Kirk DiLorenzo expects the new ordinance to be used sparingly.
"It gives the owners a tool if they have a problem tenant and it gives the city a tool if we have a problem owner," he said.
Residents in the Aquila neighborhood such as Deane welcome the change. "I think it's going to make landlords responsible -- that's what they need."
Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711 • lblake@startribune.com
Doesn't anyone think that putting the troublemakers in jail would solve the problem. Why just move them down the street to cause more trouble?
Hmmm, let me see do the words, "I told you so!" mean anything to you? I have been saying since this forum started that Saint Paul's laws were less strict against property owners than our suburban neighbors and these guys cry like a bunch of babies that code enforcement makes them fix their properties.
The only reason why they have done their slimey rental business in Saint Paul is that the suburbs would have demo'ed their dumps twice as fast.
JMONTOMEPPOF
Chuck Repke
Repke, what an arrogant and twisted response.
There are historic issues why the suburbs and cities are different. You can justify anything with that attitude, and you clearly don't respect the people of St. Paul.
10:11 - yup the historic issue is that suburban governments have been interested in protecting home owners and have been stricter at enforcing codes. City governments have not invested the same amount of resources to code compliance issues and have been more tollarent of bad property management. The attitude being of course that if you don't like something you can always move.
I support stricter code enforcement and am glad to see the City adopting the suburban view of people in the rental business have the responsibility to maintain their properties.
I am glad to see that because finally it means that the PEOPLE of Saint Paul will be treated with the same respect as their suburban neighbors.
Again, the point of my post was that I have been telling you guys that the folks in the law suit that complain about the enforcement in the City have been saying that the City code enforcement is being strict when in fact they are less strict than our suburban neighbors.
JMONTOMEPPOF
Chuck Repke
didn't know thaqt the lawsuit guys were saying the city's code enforcement was strict, I thought they were saying that the way they applied it was illegal. Am I missing something here Bob or is Chuck just spinning facts again.
Hey Chucky motor mouth. Don't tell me what histotric issues are.
I've never supported the exclusivity of suburbia, and thought it was avoiding responsibility.
Now we have suburban inspectors forcing their way of life on good, real people who are the fabric of the city. They are breaking laws. causing a lot of overall damage, and just want to push people around.
What you support is the pure arrogance of the city.
Read the story folks. What we have been reading on this forum is how evil the City is to expect that work is compleated in four or five years and told that Only the evil City of Saint Paul has these policies that brutalize property owners that make them repair their properties or when they are vacant bring them up to code before they can be occupied.
The facts are that our subburban neighbors are much stricter in enforcing the very issues that people come to this forum and say only happens in Saint Paul.
Come on folks don't you see how silly the suits look once you realize that the City doesn't do anything different than any other City does?
JMONTOMEPPOF
Chuck Repke
The repke version:
racketeering+politics=responsability
Or could it be that the city of St Paul unwittingly created the perfect storm by not only getting caught breaking the law, but picking on the wrong group of people when they did it? If the landlords win the lawsuit, do you suppose tha will create a flurry of lawsuits in the suburbs also? Or maybe not because the suburbs may not be breaking the law with the way they apply the code enforcement. That's the million dollar question here....did the city break the law and violate people's civil rights or didn't they? Do they force their way into properties without search warrants or not? Did inspectors lie and fabricate violations that did not exist or didn't they? Does the city have the legal authority to require these code complaince deals or don't they?
Actually few of the above questions are relevant to the law suits. The issue in the law suits is was there a conspiracy of elected and/or appointed officials to close down certain landlords for the benefit of PHA or some other entity?
That is what a RICO case is - racketeering a conspiracy to take something away from someone for the financial benefit of someone else.
Clearly, what the report above shows is that cities through out the area are trying to solve the same issues using the same tools that the City of Saint Paul did and does.
There is no doubt that the City has the constitutional police powers when it comes to code and zoning, that is what local governments are formed to do.
As to any inappropriate actions of any one employee, it will have nothing to do with a RICO case (Civil issue or criminal issue but not a Federal issue). That is why I love reading all the stuff that attacks one inspector and suggests that he may have benefitted somehow... sorry that isn't a conspiracy that at all involves the City.
JMONTOMEPPOF
Chuck Repke
1 inspector? I thought half of the damm department was getting sued!
Magner holds a lot of influence. I hope he does not hold any responsibility now.
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