Keeping Drug Activity Out of Rental Property:  Establishing Landlord Training Programs.


MENU TITLE: Landlord Training Program Fact Sheet
Series: BJA
Published: November 1995
6 pages
10,720 bytes

Bureau of Justice Assistance Fact Sheet

Keeping Drug Activity Out of Rental Property:
Establishing Landlord Training Programs

Chronic drug house activity is a major cause of
neighborhood decay. Most drug activity in
residential neighborhoods--dealing, manufacturing,
growing, and use of drugs--occurs on rental
property; owner-occupant drug houses are uncommon.
Law enforcement alone cannot solve this problem;
the number of search warrants served against drug
operations in residential housing represents only a
fraction of the number of suspected operations.
Accordingly, successful prevention efforts must
involve those individuals with the greatest
leverage to stop illegal activity at targeted
locations, the owners and managers of rental
housing.

The Landlord Training Program was designed to help
law enforcement agencies, property owners, property
managers, and residents keep illegal activity out
of rental property. Although originally designed to
focus specifically on drug activity, the program
consistently has proved effective in helping to
reduce a broader range of rental-based illegal
activity. 

This community-oriented property management
approach was developed originally by John Campbell
of Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc., for the
Portland (Oregon) Police Bureau, with funding from
the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) of the U.S.
Department of Justice. The program was developed
through a process of intensive research with
hundreds of organizations and individuals,
including landlords, management associations,
private attorneys, tenant advocates, housing
authority personnel, tenant screening companies,
narcotics detectives, and district officers. 

Work on the Portland effort began in July 1989, and
the first training program was presented in
November of that year. Since then, more than 6,000
landlords and property managers have been trained
under the program, impacting over 100,000 rental
units in Portland and the surrounding communities.
The program has received national recognition as an
Innovation in State and Local Government by the
Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.


In addition, more than 80 jurisdictions in 20
States have adopted elements of the Portland
program. As it was tailored to other jurisdictions,
the program has evolved and adopted various names,
such as Crime Free Multi-Housing Program,
Landlord/Tenant Training Program, Rental Housing
Program, Police/Community Housing Program,
Partnerships in Property Management, and Enhanced
Safety Properties Program. In Texas and Georgia,
portions of the program have been adapted into a
program known as Resident Shield and portions of
the program have been adapted by the Institute of
Real Estate Management's Smart Partners Program:
Better Properties Through Stronger Communities.

National Train-the-Trainer Program

Due to the success of the Portland program, BJA
initiated a cooperative agreement with Campbell
DeLong Resources, Inc., to foster program
replication through the development of a national
train-the-trainer program. This new national
training program teaches law enforcement agencies
and other interested government agencies the tools
and techniques required to develop, present, and
manage the Landlord Training Program. Five regional
training sessions will be provided in 1996. Each
session is administered by Campbell DeLong
Resources, Inc., in partnership with other law
enforcement trainers who are experienced in the
program. All trainers are skilled in dealing with
the challenges of developing the program in
multiple jurisdictions. Details of the session
follow:

Locations. The training locations will be
geographically dispersed around the country,
allowing for convenient access by all participants.

Length. Each national train-the-trainer program
will be approximately 3 days in length.

Cost to participants. There is no charge for
attending the training; however, participants will
be expected to pay their own direct expenses, such
as travel, lodging, and other related costs.

Registration. Registration will open after training
locations are confirmed. Individuals or agencies
interested in attending a training may register
with Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc. (See the For
Further Information section of this fact sheet.)
Additional registration information will be sent to
registered parties as it becomes available. Space
in each training session will be limited, and
advance registration is required.

"Pre-work" package. Before attending the training,
participants will receive a packet of information
containing "pre-work" to ensure that they are
knowledgeable about local landlord-tenant issues so
that they can gain the fullest possible value from
the training.

Train-the-Trainer Curriculum

Curriculum for each national train-the-trainer
program covers the following topic areas:
Orientation to the Landlord Training Program. This
section provides an overview of the program,
including:

o Review of program performance to date.

o Implementation, such as first decisions,
logistical details, personnel considerations, and
costs. 

o Challenges in developing local materials, such as
a localized training manual.

o Program marketing.

Options for Landlord Training Program
implementation. Trainers give an overview of
training variations, including:

o Multistep certification programs pioneered by
Arizona jurisdictions.

o Methods for tailoring to different types of
rental housing, such as single-family housing,
small-unit multifamily housing, and large-unit
multifamily apartment communities.

o Techniques for working with private- and
public-sector housing concerns, such as public
housing, Section 8 housing, and private-market
rentals.

o Methods for tailoring to the different
characteristics of crime problems.

Problem solving at the rental property. Not every
rental-based problem can be solved by training the
manager. Training in this section explains how
police officers can apply other problem-solving
techniques to rental housing situations, including:

o Coordination of other civil enforcement
strategies.

o Inservice and advanced academy training options
for officer-directed problem solving at rental
properties.

o Resident organizing.

o Tools for motivating a reluctant owner or
manager.

Landlord Training Program content. This component
describes what landlords will be taught and how to
teach it. As part of the 3-day train-the-trainer
program, participants will observe a 1-day training
of landlords at the regional site. The training for
landlords delivers two important messages: (1) that
effective property management can have a major
impact on the health of a community, and (2) that
accessible, legitimate techniques can be used to
stop the spread of drug activity on rental
property. Training for landlords covers the
following topics:

o Preparing the property. How meeting habitability
requirements and applying the concepts of crime
prevention through environmental design can be used
to prevent illegal activity on rental property.

o Applicant screening. How to screen out dishonest
applicants while encouraging honest applicants to
apply using approaches that are both legal and
fair. 

o Rental agreements. How to empower landlords to
evict tenants involved in drug and other illegal
activity.

o Ongoing management. How to manage property in a
way that discourages illegal behavior, promotes
resident safety, and ensures early warning should
illegal activity occur.

o Community building. How to strengthen the sense
of community in multifamily housing, the benefits
for managers and residents in doing so, discussion
of apartment watch and how to work with neighbors,
and techniques for helping residents in small-unit
housing learn about and participate in neighborhood
watch programs.

o Warning signs of drug activity. What drugs are
involved; the behavior associated with dealing,
distributing, and growing; and the indicators of
clandestine drug laboratories.

o Crisis resolution. What the options, process, and
practical applications are in situations where
illegal activity is apparent, and what basic
considerations are necessary when tenants involved
in illegal activity must be evicted.

o Working with the police. What to expect, what not
to expect, and how to get maximum cooperation.

Support Materials

The materials available at the national
train-the-trainer programs will include:

o The BJA monograph, Keeping Drug Activity Out of
Rental Property: A Guide for Establishing Landlord
Training Programs. 

o A BJA step-by-step, train-the-trainer guide,
complete with sample overheads, key points, and
discussion of optional presentation approaches.

o Sample marketing materials and information
available from various jurisdictions about program
variations.

o Electronic copies of selected materials.

For Further Information

For information about the Landlord Training Program
or to register for upcoming train-the-trainer
programs, contact:

Campbell DeLong Resources, Inc.
319 SW. Washington, Suite 802
Portland, OR 97204
1-503-221-6679 (voice-mail response system)
LTP info@aol.com (e-mail)

Materials available are listed in the main menu of
the voice-mail system. Both fax and electronic mail
communications are supported. Options available
through the voice-mail response system include
requesting information to be faxed or
electronically mailed to your location and adding
your name and organization to a list of persons to
be notified about location and registration
information as it becomes available.

Additional options on the voice-mail response
system, including program registration and
location-specific training information, will be
listed as it becomes available.

For other information about the Landlord Training
Program, contact:

Bureau of Justice Assistance
Discretionary Grants Program Division
Law Enforcement Branch
633 Indiana Avenue NW.
Washington, DC 20531
Tel: 1-202-616-3452 

For information on BJA publications, contact:

Bureau of Justice Assistance Clearinghouse
P.O. Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
Tel: 1-800-688-4252
Fax: 1-301-251-5212
Internet: look@ncjrs.aspensys.com

For general information about other BJA programs,
contact:

U.S. Department of Justice Response Center
Tel: 1-800-421-6770