Plan to limit scope of ‘crime-free housing’ ordinances clears Illinois
Senate committee
[May 16, 2025]
By Jade Aubrey and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR)
SPRINGFIELD — A Senate committee on Wednesday advanced a measure aiming
to limit the circumstances under which tenants can be evicted due to
local “crime-free housing” ordinances.
The measure was backed by housing advocates who argued the crime-free
ordinances have been used to evict people in instances where the actual
residents of the homes in question committed petty offenses or no crimes
at all. But law enforcement and municipal groups countered that limiting
local authority to enforce crime-free or nuisance ordinances would take
away policies that can be used to revitalize neighborhoods.
The Senate Executive Committee approved Senate Bill 2264 on Wednesday,
which cracks down on crime-free housing policies after a recent
investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and The New York Times. It
found that there were more than 2,000 cases in 25 Illinois cities where
crime-free housing ordinances were enforced from 2019 to 2024, with
about 500 of those cases involving evictions.
The investigation found that only a third of those 2,000 violations were
for serious crimes like drug charges or felony convictions. The other
approximately 1,300 violations were due to misdemeanors or noncriminal
offenses, “many of which were never pursued by prosecutors,” according
to the reporting.
Crime-free housing ordinances in Illinois municipalities began cropping
up in the early 1990s in attempts to remove violent criminals, drug
dealers and nuisance tenants who frequently disturb their neighbors at
rental properties. While the local ordinances have been used to achieve
those goals, advocates say they are sometimes abused to apply to people
who aren’t even accused of crimes, much less convicted of them.
In recent years, many cities have enforced the laws so aggressively that
virtually any contact tenants have with law enforcement has been used as
a reason to bring violations against tenants, according to the news
reporting. That includes evictions of tenants who called the police to
request assistance, which led housing advocates to push for the new
bill.
In 2015, Illinois lawmakers passed a law prohibiting the ordinances from
being used to evict victims of domestic violence. At the time, some
cities were counting calls to police made by victims of domestic
violence as nuisance calls, resulting in the eviction of the victims,
the Chicago Tribune reported.
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Emily Coffey, senior counsel of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for
Civil Rights, speaks beside Sen. Karina Villa, D-Chicago, during a
Senate Executive Committee in the Statehouse on Wednesday. (Capitol
News Illinois photo by Jade Aubrey)
If enacted, SB 2264 would bar municipalities from penalizing tenants for
calling the police to request assistance from law enforcement officers.
It would also prohibit nuisance and crime-free ordinances from being
applied to tenants who are not themselves accused of crimes and would
block ordinances from being applied to tenants based on who they
associate with, unless the association itself is a crime.
Any municipality enforcing crime-free housing policies would have to
hire a crime-free housing coordinator, who would handle cases where law
enforcement informs a landlord that a tenant should be evicted. The
coordinator would review cases and decide whether the tenant’s action
warrants eviction.
Tenants would be given the right to challenge enforcement action in
circuit court, and municipalities would be required to create a hearing
process for those facing enforcement actions.
Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Director Kenny
Winslow, who previously served as Springfield police chief, called the
city’s crime-free housing laws a “usual crime prevention crime reduction
tool.” His organization opposed the measure, which passed with only
Democratic support.
“When utilized right, it can be a revitalization tool for a
neighborhood,” he said.
Michael Banske, director of the Illinois Crime Free Association,
disputed claims that the ordinances are overused.
“We do not displace families for domestic violence situations, for
excessive calls for the police to come there,” he said in committee.
“Nuisance abatement is completely separate. Oftentimes in a
municipality, both of those are handled by the same officer or the same
division, but they are, in fact, separate.”
The measure still needs approval from the full House and Senate before
it would head to the governor for consideration.
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