Riverside ends crime-free housing program in place since 1995 – Press Enterprise

A crime-prevention program in Riverside that some said is discriminatory is ending after nearly 30 years.

Riverside City Councilmembers agreed Tuesday, Sept. 5, to end the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program on a 5-2 vote. Councilmembers Chuck Conder and Jim Perry voted no.

The program sought to “reduce crime, drugs, and gangs on apartment properties,” according to a city council report.

Certifying a property for the program involves three steps, the report states.

They are: training for property managers, a review of the design to look for things such as outdoor lights and landscaping and, finally, community awareness. The Riverside Police Department holds a yearly training for property managers.

The “heart and soul of the program” is an addition to the lease that tells tenants what’s required of them under the program, says the website of the International Crime Free Association, which sets program standards.

For example, tenants may not engage in criminal activity on or near the premises, or allow their housing to be used for or to facilitate criminal activity, the website states. Violations are “good cause for immediate termination of the lease,” and criminal convictions aren’t required as proof.

Any multi-family housing projects, including apartments and mobile home parks, were required to participate in the program, the report states. The city had about 120 properties participating.

The program was optional for properties operating before its adoption in 1995, police spokesperson Ryan Railsback said. After the program began, new housing projects and old ones with significant additions had to participate.

Supporters said the program was effective. Opponents called it discriminatory and said it increased barriers for formerly-incarcerated people looking for housing.

Perry said that, while he couldn’t speak for the city, the program made some people’s lives easier, mentioning those who “lived in fear” at their residences but had nowhere else to go.

“It turned bad properties into good properties, in appearance, in management, in giving people a safe place to live,” he said.

The Crime Free program started at the Mesa Arizona Police Department in 1992, and has since spread to almost 2,000 cities in the U.S. and several other countries, states the association website. The city of San Bernardino also participates.

The program was inspired by Drug Free School Zones and Drug Free Workplaces, which came about in the 1970s and 80s, respectively, according to the association’s website.

Riverside adopted the program in 1995, a city presentation states.

After the pandemic, Railsback said the city learned it wasn’t complying with all program requirements.

When the police department’s new Crime Free coordinator was completing a required training, “it was discovered that the City of Riverside Program was not meeting all Association standards,” the city report states.

Those standards include requiring background checks on potential tenants and enforcing the lease addendum, it states.

“I can’t say for certainty that we didn’t do this in the ’90s,” Gonzalez said, but he said the department hasn’t done training on background checks for apartment managers “in recent history.”

Railsback said it’s up to each property to require background checks of potential tenants.

The city faced a decision: either comply with the program by requiring background checks and lease addendums, or get rid of it. The latter option was recommended by the police department.

At the meeting, most speakers supported ending the program.

Isabella Valentine, a teacher, said she’s never had problems with the law — but has had problems with the program, and at one point lost her housing.

“I got kicked out, and so did my son, who was 12 at the time,” Valentine said.

“Why? Because I lived in a home with people who were previously incarcerated. We all got kicked out.”

She said she had nowhere to go.

“You know who took me in? Criminals,” she said. “The people we turn our back on.”

Terrance Stewart, who said he has a previous conviction and now works for the nonprofit Alliance for Safety and Justice, said it was a “prayer come true” to see the police chief acknowledge the struggles he’s had — which included using his student loan to pay to stay at a hotel near UC Riverside while he was a student.

“I’m still paying that money back now,” he said.

In recent years, other cities have come under fire for alleged discriminatory crime-free housing programs.

In 2020, Hemet entered a voluntary agreement to end three programs regulating housing after facing such allegations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2022, Hesperia also agreed to end its crime free housing program after being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“In the event that the City were to face litigation, the Association would not provide assistance,” the Riverside City Council report states.

Another factor mentioned at the meeting was California Assembly Bill 1418, which, if passed would, among other things, prohibit local governments from imposing penalties because someone had contact with a law enforcement agency on or near a property, and from encouraging or requiring landlords to perform criminal background checks on tenants and prospective tenants.

Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes said that, when the Housing and Homelessness Committee was working on its five-year plan, “there was a clear contradiction” between the program and the goals to help those who had been previously incarcerated, or just needed housing.

“This conflicted with the goals we were trying to achieve,” she said.