Breaking Free from "Crime-Free": State-Level Responses to Harmful Housing Ordinances

Abstract

Municipalities throughout the country enforce broad and harmful crime-free housing and nuisance property ordinances (CFNOs)—local laws that encourage landlords to evict or exclude tenants from housing opportunities based on their contact with the criminal legal system or calls for police help. There is little evidence that CFNOs are effective at achieving their stated goal of increasing community safety, and there is significant evidence that they harm Black and Latinx communities, survivors of domestic violence, individuals with disabilities, and low-income tenants and communities more broadly. Despite more than a decade of legal advocacy successfully challenging CFNOs using a range of legal theories under state and federal civil rights laws, these ordinances continue to proliferate.

This Article explores the potential for state-level legislative and executive action to combat the civil rights threat posed by CFNOs. It discusses the broad authority states retain to enact preemption laws targeting CFNOs and summarizes the range of existing state preemption legislation on this issue. Informed by interviews with a network of advocates, it discusses the benefits and challenges of advancing state-level legislation targeting CFNOs. Finally, this Article explores the expansive regulatory and enforcement powers that state governments can deploy to combat or curtail the harmful effects of CFNOs, including through state attorneys general, specialized state agencies, and fair housing planning processes.

As CFNOs continue to harm tenants and communities, this Article argues states should use all available legislative, regulatory, and enforcement tools to respond.