Safe Housing Crime Free Program Puts Spotlight On Criminal Activity In Rental Units

When Mystery Couture jumped into her job as manager of a South Side apartment complex, she received a consistent barrage of resident complaints about car break-ins, drug-related crime and vandalism.

So when her property manager told her about the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, she signed right up for the next training session.

“We decided to go with (the program) to eliminate those things going on in the area,” said Couture, who manages the Mt. Vernon Terrace Apartments at 3118 S. Mt. Vernon.

“We did it for the safety of the tenants up here.”

Now, just five months later, a spotlight illuminates the grounds, all sliding windows have new locks, doors have updated deadbolts and peepholes, and Couture has a sign she soon will hang near the entrance to the complex. It states: “We have joined the Spokane Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, keeping illegal activity out of rental property.”

“We wanted to get that safety issue in place right away,” Couture said. “Now the tenants are always coming up to me saying how much safer they’re starting to feel.”

The Crime Free Multi-Housing Program started in 1989 in Portland and has spread to at least 40 states and Canada.

Spokane’s Block Watch Program started developing a similar program in 1998 in both the city and county. It motored along until funding for Block Watch was cut, along with most of the employees overseeing the program. That left dozens of apartment managers and owners with the first part of the program completed but no way to continue. Until now.

Since the beginning of the year, the wide umbrella of Community Oriented Policing Services has stretched to cover Block Watch. And, the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program is being revived with renewed vigor.

For $35, apartment managers and owners can get training, a certificate and a Crime Free MultiHousing sign to post on the property.

“It’s a great advertising tool,” said Nancy Lewis, Block Watch specialist. “If I was a single woman out on my own for the first time and that sign caught my eye, it would make a big difference.”

The Crime Free Multi-Housing Program consists of three parts. First is a two-day, eight-hour training session that covers, among other things:

Preparing the property so it does not attract crime.

Applicant screening - how to conduct credit checks and background checks.

Rental agreements - how to enforce a drug- and violence-free lease addendum.

Ongoing management techniques that help reduce the possibility of illegal activity.

Lastly, the eviction process.

“Especially helpful was the information on how to watch for problems with drugs. I’ve never been around drugs before,” Couture said. “I got new ideas of what to do to make the area safe.”

Sandy Richards, crime prevention practitioner for the Spokane Police Department, runs some of the training sessions along with a member of the Spokane County Sheriff’s Department. She stressed the fact that the training is not antirenter, but just to give managers and owners a way to make their properties “a place of quality where people can live safely.”

The second part of the program teaches property owners and managers about crime prevention through design. Speakers talk about how to make apartment complexes safer through things like trimming low-hanging branches and shrubs to eliminate places where thieves could hide, adding security lighting and having clearly marked fire lanes.

“After class I looked at the property and thought, hmmm, … I need to do this and that, and started making a list for the maintenance guys,” said Judy Delzer, manager of the Rosewood Club Apartments on the North Side.

After fulfilling those requirements, program participants need to schedule crime prevention training for their residents. Part of that includes creating a communityoriented environment within the complex.

“If people know each other, they will be more apt to care about other people’s homes as much as they care about their own,” Lewis said. “They’ll know who’s supposed to be there and who’s not supposed to be there. It’ll make the whole place safer.”

Still, the program is not a guarantee for a crime-free existence.

“We’ve had a couple of problems, but we have seen a difference,” Couture said. “There’s been a drop in calls. And people are not just calling me to report things - they call the police. People are more alert.”

Added Richards: “We can’t guarantee perfect safety, but we can do things to make it better.”

Besides the Mt. Vernon Terrace Apartments and the Rosewood Club Apartments, the Collins Apartments downtown have also received the Crime Free Multi-Housing designation. Several others, including the Coventry Court Apartments and the Richard Allen Apartments, are working toward completion of the program, Richards said.

Apartment complexes that receive the Crime Free Multi-Housing designation must be recertified every year, to make sure everything is being kept in compliance with the program’s standards.

And, the fixes are usually not cheap. In addition to the $35 training fee, owners and managers must often spend hundreds or thousands to bring everything in the complex up to the program’s standard.

Delzer said she spent about $1,000 for new lights, about $2,000 for new door numbers, $200 for peep holes and $3,000 for bush removal at the 159-unit complex that sits on 10 acres. But she also said they were improvements she would have done regardless of whether she was in the program.

“Things won’t happen overnight,” she said, praising her staff for helping get everything done. “Maybe it takes a year, but properties should be working toward that.”

The result is a well-worth-it feeling of safety and well being.

Carey Sorensen has been living at the Rosewood Club Apartments with her 10-month-old daughter and fiance for seven months.

“I really like it here,” she said. “Everything’s safe. They’ve taken trees out, and there’s lighting everywhere. There’s nowhere someone could be hiding. I don’t have to worry about people lurking around after dark.”

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For more information about the Crime Free Multi-Housing program, contact Nancy Lewis at 625-3303.