At an Alton city council meeting held February 8, the Alton Telegraph reported, Illinois REALTORS® Local Governmental Affairs Director Ron Deedrick addressed the impact, or lack thereof, that crime free housing programs have on crime rates.

“Crime free housing does not reduce crime rate,” Deedrick said. “The only way to reduce crime rates is to have your police force engage with communities and constituencies, talk with people in the neighborhoods, have policy makers behind the police department all working in consultation.”

“Forcing housing providers to do the eviction, and in essence the police’s job, is not fair,” Deedrick said.

During the meeting, Mayor David Goins stated that there was no correlation between the level of crime in Alton and the implementation of the crime free housing program, which was ended in 2021.