Carol Stream hires crime-free housing coordinator

A former Glen Ellyn police officer now is in charge of coordinating Carol Stream's new effort to license rental properties and keep them safe - a program that's expected to get into full swing early next year.

Raymond Munch spent 12 years with the police department before joining Carol Stream earlier this year as its first crime-free housing coordinator.

Munch left Glen Ellyn's department after being injured in the line of duty.

"This was a good opportunity just to stay involved in law enforcement in a meaningful way," he said.

Back in September, the village board approved a new residential rental licensing ordinance, which provided further regulations for rental properties.

Under the ordinance, those who wish to rent or lease property are required to obtain a rental license from the village. Certain properties are exempt, including nursing homes, retirement homes, hospices, group homes, and hotels and motels.

A license for renting a house costs $75, while renting multifamily buildings costs $100 per building.

Besides the licensing rule, the ordinance also requires that licensees attend a crime-free housing seminar before obtaining their licenses.

Munch said the seminars are geared toward property owners and managers.

"As it relates to apartment communities, for example, some of the larger multifamily communities, the people we would be looking to put through the training seminars would be more likely the on-site property managers, the leasing agents, the people who really deal with the day-to-day operations of the apartment communities," Munch said.

In his position, Munch is the main contact in the village for the crime-free housing program. Some of his responsibilities include overseeing the licensing and providing the trainings, which he said will cover topics such as ways to properly screen tenants and basic methods for crime prevention.

But the "backbone" of the program, according to Munch, is the crime-free addenda that must be attached to tenants' leases under the new guidelines.

"Typically, people would be evicted for such things as not paying rent or general violations of a lease agreement: too many people, pets that aren't allowed, things of that nature," Munch said.

"(The addenda) gives the ability to initiate the eviction process for things like criminal activity on the property, if somebody was selling drugs out of their apartment, or committing crimes on the common grounds of the property."

Tenants can get evicted if they commit crimes on or off the rental property. But not every violation will automatically result in an eviction, he said.

"We have to understand that when we're talking about some of these larger multifamily housing complexes, some of the nuisance activities are a little bit more of a fact of life, things like noise disturbances," Munch said.

"So those are the type of things where I think there's going to be a little bit more leeway as far as giving warnings."

Under the ordinance, renters also may be evicted if their guests commit crimes on the rental property.

"It puts the responsibility on the tenants not only to keep themselves from committing criminal activity on the property but also from not bringing criminal activity into the apartment through their guests," he said.

Failure to enforce or include the addenda can result in the loss or suspension of a rental license or fines for the owner.

Munch said training seminars have been scheduled to occur in late January.

Similar crime-free housing programs have been implemented throughout the country, he said.

"One of the questions that frequently comes up with this program as it's been administered across the country is, could it be viewed as discriminatory," he said. "And, really, the answer is no because there's a federal fair housing act which basically lays out what is considered discrimination and it's very clear that a person's behavior is not a protected class."

Munch says it's important for Carol Stream - a community with a large number of rental properties - to have this type of program.

"I think it's important for this community to have a program like this because, at the end of the day, it's going to enhance the overall quality of life for the village as a whole."