Challenging Harmful Housing Policies
Understanding the Harmful Impact of Criminal Activity Nuisance Ordinances (CANOs) and Crime-Free Housing Programs (CFHPs)
The police should not be involved with housing laws. When the cost of housing is at an all time high and rental vacancies are at an all time low, any law that harms rightful renters and landlords should be reconsidered or abolished.
Campaign Zero is raising awareness about Criminal Activity Nuisance Ordinances (CANOs) and Crime-Free Housing Programs (CFHPs) and advocating for their abolition, and promoting restorative housing solutions that serve tenants and landlords alike.
This resource serves as a tool for legislators, researchers, and activists to explore comprehensive data on criminal activity nuisance policies and "crime-free" programs across the U.S.
For more information on this campaign, please review our data release announcement. Find out more about the work we do at Campaign Zero.
What are CANOs & CFHPs?
Crime-free housing policies are county, municipal, and state-level laws and programs that label a property a "nuisance" when a certain number of emergency services calls and/or alleged criminal conduct occurs. These harmful ordinances and programs uproot lives across the nation.
Unpacking Crime-Free Housing Programs (CFHPs)
Review the CFHP training materials our campaign has collected. These trainings use overtly racist language to instruct landlords to enforce harmful stereotypes. This fuels unfair evictions, discrimination, and housing instability.
Explore MoreDeep Data Affecting Real Lives
- 150+ housing laws reviewed throughout all 50 states + Washington, D.C.
- Roughly 1000 municipal housing policies reviewed, with a focus on the top 200 most populous cities, Maryland, South Carolina, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, and California
- 195 case studies collected spanning across 24 states
- 50+ academic articles identified assessing these harmful policies
No other effort has systematically gathered and analyzed data on crime-free housing policies at multiple levels of government. This work applies rigorous qualitative research methods to crime-free housing policies to expose the full impact of these laws on vulnerable renters.
Our Policy Recommendations
- Abolish crime-free housing policies nationwide
- Pass strong state bans, building on wins like CA AB1418
- Repeal local policies that threaten renters and silence vulnerable communities
How Crime-Free Housing Laws in Illinois Harm Renters—And How to Stop It
The Community Safety Through Stable Homes Coalition exposes how Illinois’ Crime-Free and Nuisance Property Ordinances (CFNOs) force evictions based on 911 calls, harming vulnerable renters. The report urges lawmakers to pass SB 2264 to protect tenants’ rights and housing stability.
Explore the Data
Choose from the following options to view the data below.
Criminal Legal Data
Policy Data
Additional Materials
State Laws
Policies from all 50 states + D.C. collected and coded by the Campaign team using the Data Generation Manual
Ordinances
City and county policies from the top 200 most populous cities collected and coded by the Campaign team using the Data Generation Manual.
State Rubric Explorer
Policies from all 50 states + D.C. scored using the State Rubric and the Qualitative Researcher Codebook
Municipal Harm Indicator Rubric Explorer
Ordinances and programs from select cities scored using the Municipal Harm Indicator and the Qualitative Researcher Codebook
Freedom of Information Act Requests
View all Campaign Zero's Freedom of Information requests and their corresponding MuckRock links.
Crime-Free Training Materials
Repository of crime-free housing program training materials and crime-free lease addenda that Campaign Zero collected through FOIA requests
Literature
Literature pertaining to CANOs & CFHPs.