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MultiFamily Executive
March, 2003
CRIME-FREE PROGRAMS PROVIDE RESIDENTS PEACE OF MIND
Property managers and owners across the country are learning ways to ease residents’ safety concerns. They are getting involved in crime-free programs and neighborhood watches to create secure, drug-free environments.
Not only do residents benefit, but management is able to retain residents and attract new ones. “If you can show prospective residents, as well as your current residents that you are taking proactive steps to make the property and neighborhood safer and more appealing, they are more inclined to live there and stay there,” says Wayne Kaplan, director of public relations for the Arizona Multihousing Association, which is active in crime-free programs.
Now is an essential time for the management to re-evaluate their buildings’ security needs, says Michael Kessler, chief executive officer of Kessler International, a New York-based security consulting firm. Immediately after Sept. 11, calls to conduct background investigations on new residents increased. But in the months following the attack, management companies have become less careful in terms of security, Kessler says. “And I think by letting their guards down, somebody is going to take advantage of the situation.”
Crime-Free Program
Creating comprehensive security programs in multifamily dwellings isn’t always easy. Neighborhood or block watches are important but can be difficult to implement because, unlike homeowners, renters don’t have a large financial investment in their apartments and are less likely to stay and fight crime, say Tim Zehring, founder of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, an international program established in 1992 to reduce crime. That’s why Zehring came up with a new idea—stopping crime at the front door to prevent criminals from renting apartments and endangering neighborhoods.
The Crime Free Multi-Housing Program unites law enforcement, property managers, and residents to reduce crime. Developed by the Mesa, Ariz., Police Department, the program is now in 44 states, 1,700 cities, five Canadian provinces, and Japan, Finland, England, Russia, and Puerto Rico.
Before the program, managers would call the police for help, and the police would often tell them it was something the managers needed to handle, Zehring says. Managers would be frustrated because they didn’t have the training to deal with criminal problems. The goal of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program is to educate managers about the power they have.
In phase one, managers and owners receive eight hours of intensive training on topics such as crime prevention theory, new resident screening, legal warnings and evictions, working with the police, and lease agreement issues. They learn that they have power to control who lives at their property, Zehring says. Before the program began, many managers didn’t know they could perform credit and criminal checks and legally prevent convicted criminals from moving in.
In the second phase, police inspect properties to ensure landscaping allows for visibility and lighting and locks meet safety standards. Improving security can cost a lot of money, but many owners say safety is well worth the cost. “The investment in property security is an important consideration for owners in order to dissuade crime from coming on the property and preventing its spread within the complex,” says Stuart Falkin, managing partner of Falkin Platnick Realty Group, whose property Village in the Pines in Mesa has been in the program for a year and a half. “On-site management must do their utmost to assure that residents are as safe as possible.”
The final phase of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program lets residents get involved in community awareness training. At an annual social event, property management and police teach crime prevention to residents. Topics include personal safety awareness, residents’ rights and responsibilities, and the importance of neighborhood watch programs.
Mending Fences
Community awareness is an essential part of a security program, but it’s tough to get residents involved in programs like neighborhood or block watches. Foxridge Apartment Homes, a HHHunt property in Blacksburg, Va., has 1,728 units and is lucky if 10 people attend safety programs, says Cathy LaPrade, senior regional property manager. “We just want people to participate and be aware of what’s going on,” LaPrade says. “Typically, we see a response after an incident happens, otherwise no news is good news to them.”
All of HHHunt’s properties are part of neighborhood watches, which includes posting a sign on the property so people know the community is trained to deter crime and holding monthly or quarterly meetings to discuss safety strategies and concerns. Some have added programs to entice residents, such as self-defense and ways to take inventory of possessions for insurance use. Residents at WestWind Apartment Homes in Roanoke, Va., are offered a lease renewal incentive for becoming a building captain and attending neighborhood watch meetings.
The Arizona Multihousing Association devised a way to get more properties involved in their neighborhoods. About 80 properties joined the association’s FIVE STAR PROGRAM, a voluntary certification for communities that participate in a neighborhood or homeowners’ association or block watch.
“This interaction is the true value of the program,” says Nedra Halley, president of Dunlap & Magee Property Management, which has been certified since the program began two years ago. “It results in a spirit of cooperation between homeowners and apartment residents.”
Dunlap & Magee properties hold meetings about crime with residents on a regular basis, and once a year, a coordinator from the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program gives a refresher course on safety. Participating members of the FIVE STAR PROGRAM also must join the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program and FAX NET 1, a free, non-profit service that sends neighborhood crime information through a broadcast fax network.
Although FIVE STAR takes a lot of time and energy, Equity Residential participates because “it’s one more level of certification and shows a higher level of commitment to the community,” says John Rials, regional vice president of the company. Fifteen of Equity Residential’s properties participate in FIVE STAR and another 20 participate in the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program.
Plus, joining these programs makes residents feel like a more cohesive group, says Pamela Sahlin-McCarthy, regional manager of YK Group, which has all four of its properties in FIVE STAR. Residents get to know each other through block watch, CPR training, and pool safety lessons and want to stay where they are, she says.
Crime-Free Lease Addendum
The specific wording of a lease helps weed out problem residents. The Crime Free Multi-Housing Program is the first to offer crime-free lease addendum, which speeds up the eviction process. It states that residents and guests may not engage in any type of illegal activity or use the rental unit for such activity. The contract gives renters one strike and they’re out. The contract addresses issues such as drugs, gangs, domestic abuse, and prostitution. All of Equity Residential’s properties have the addendum because it provides more flexibility to evict residents that violate rules, Rials says. Eviction time depends on state laws, but most states accept the addendum as a civil contract, which allows for immediate eviction.
The addendum also is a good way to deter problem residents, says Sahlin-McCarthy of YK Group. “When a problem resident comes in to fill out an application and sees a crime-free lease addendum, they usually turn around because [he or she knows] we mean business.”
Security Sells
Programs like Crime Free Multi-Housing and FIVE STAR do more than prevent crime; they help dispel the myth that apartment communities don’t care about being good neighbors. “From a public relations image point of view, it certainly shows that you’re doing more than just talking about crime prevention,” says Kaplan. “You actually have a program in place that is helping to reduce or prevent criminal activity on the property.” This serves as a great marketing tool, adds Falkin. You not only appeal to prospective residents, but also retain residents at their lease renewal.
So in the end, everyone wins. Management attracts and retains quality residents, residents have a safe place to live, and police have less service calls because managers realize they have power. “If residents win, management wins, law enforcement wins, who loses?” asks Zehring. “Only the criminal.”
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