The Village of Midlothian established the Crime Free Housing Program on May 12, 2010 after acknowledging rental properties present a unique challenge for law enforcement.
The Crime Free Housing program's intention is to reduce crime by uniting the police, landlords and good tenants, to collaborate and create a better quality of life for all stakeholders. In it's very first year of implementation, the police department's Crime Free Housing division evicted 43 residents who did not comply with the crime free housing addendum.
For a landlord to be certified under Crime Free Housing, a landlord must first register their property with the Midlothian Police Department and pay their $30.00 annual fee. Secondly, the landlord must attend a Crime Free Housing seminar. At this seminar, we educate landlords how to do proper background checks and how to keep a crime free environment at their rental properties.
Since the implementation of the program, we have noticed a trend of less crime free housing evictions every year. In 2020, we only had 4 Crime Free Housing evictions. The implementation of this ordinance has made a dramatic impact on crime at our rental properties.