Why DOJ’s ‘Project Safe Neighborhoods’ Should Be Involved In Protecting Tenants From Abusive Landlords
The Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative was redesigned in 2021 to reduce violent crime through community engagement and focused enforcement. According to the DOJ:
“PSN focuses on strategic priorities that prevent violence from occurring in the first place.”
And yet, violent landlords committing felony-level assaults, harassment, and theft remain active in HUD housing programs across the country.
These are not just civil matters. In many cases, including ones I have personally investigated, landlords have been arrested and charged with violent felonies committed against their tenants, yet continue to receive federally subsidized housing payments, even while incarcerated or awaiting trial.
There is no national system of enforcement, no blacklist, no real-time consequence for those who exploit HUD-funded housing programs.
A Nationwide Epidemic of Landlord Abuse
The Jefferson lawsuit echoes themes I’ve documented in prior investigative reports:
