Publication Date
9-25-2015
Summary
Nuisance ordinances, established in municipalities nationwide to ostensibly protect the well-being of residents, threaten property owners with fines and jail time if they fail to abate a nuisance occurring on their property. Rather than promoting conflict resolution, such punitive consequences incentivize landlords to simply evict the tenants causing the nuisance. The enforcement of nuisance ordinances can have detrimental and disproportionate effects on already vulnerable populations, including tenants in domestic violence situations. The City of St. Louis employs a chronic nuisance ordinance, which is based in part on the number of police calls to a property. This ordinance can force survivors of domestic violence to choose between not reporting abuse to avoid homelessness or risking eviction to get the police assistance required to protect their safety. This brief offers four policy suggestions to mitigate such negative effects.
Document Type
Article
Category
Thriving Communities
Subarea
Inclusive Housing
Original Citation
Kantor, N., & Metzger, M. W. (2015, September). Evicting victims: Reforming St. Louis's nuisance ordinance for survivors of domestic violence (CSD Policy Brief No. 15-47). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.
Project
Livable Lives Initiative
Keywords
courts, domestic violence, Greater St. Louis, housing, housing and well-being, Livable Lives, policy, Women
Recommended Citation
Kantor, N., & Metzger, M. W. (2015, September). Evicting victims: Reforming St. Louis's nuisance ordinance for survivors of domestic violence (CSD Policy Brief No. 15-47). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7936/K7HM5809