A Crime Free Multi-Housing Program is an effort to keep illegal activity out of rental property. Chronic drug dealing and other illegal activity can reduce a neighborhood to a mere shell of the healthy community it once was. In our frustration, we often look only to the police or “the system” for solutions and forget that neighbors and landlords have tremendous power over the basic health of a community.
To be sure, both the city government and police have a critical responsibility, but citizens – landlords, tenants and homeowners – remain the foundation that makes it all work. Each of plays a different role, but we all bear a responsibility to keep our community strong. The most effective way to deal with drug activity or other destructive behavior on rental property is through a coordinated effort with police, landlords and neighbors.
Please get to know your neighborhood officers and use them as a resource to assist in solving problems. The Police Department in partnership with City Development, building Inspection and the Landlord Association have developed a Landlord Training Program that is offered in the Spring and Fall to assist landlords and property managers to help honest tenants rent from responsible landlords, while preventing those involved in illegal and destructive activity from abusing rental housing and the neighborhoods they are located in.
The Sheboygan municipal ordinance code contains a number of sections covering nuisances:
- Chapter 36: Nuisances covers topics including weed control, termite control, noise, property exteriors, graffiti, and chronic nuisance properties.
- Section 12-31: Abatement of Nuisances covers abatement procedures relating to buildings and building code issues
Finally, both landlords and tenants are invited to review our Landlord Tenant Guide for more information about their rights and responsibilities.
