The Green Bay Police Department wants landlords to learn how to keep their rental units from becoming a nuisance — a tactic more cities are using to prevent crime.
A three-hour course is available for free to landlords and property managers, in which police, the city attorney, and the city inspector give an outline about ordinances, how to screen a prospective tenant and how to write an airtight lease. Green Bay got the idea from Milwaukee.
Michelle Arneson, a crime analyst with the Green Bay Police Department, is taking reservations for the next session on Oct. 23. She said the sessions fill up fast.
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She said that the idea is to let landlords know what they’re liable for, and what assistance they’re eligible for.
“‘Here are your responsibilities. Here are the consequences … but here’s your resources as well for making some of these things happen,’” said Arneson, describing what’s communicated in the course.
Arneson said that conscientious property owners come to the classes, which have been offered for the last couple of years. She said less-responsible owners may have to face serious repercussions for things like drug dealing or prostitution.
“Those that aren’t quite on board with us so much, that’s where we start implementing our more serious consequences … We have a chronic nuisance ordinance,” said Arneson.
That can culminate in a property being shut down. Condemnation can only happen if the structure is deemed un-inhabitable by the city inspector.
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