To direct and coordinate a proactive team made up of the core investigative code compliance departments to target the worst habitability hazard locations within the city of Pasadena.

The citizens of Pasadena have a right to live in decent, habitable dwellings free from violations that jeopardize the life, safety and health of those citizens.

Landlords have a legal and moral responsibility to provide the citizens of Pasadena a safe, healthy and decent dwelling in which to live.

Pasadena C.R.A.S.H. will focus investigative and litigation resources on these slum locations. The Task Force will provide a complete habitability profile of these properties and focus proactive efforts on immediate rehabilitation and abatement.

CITY RESOURCES AGAINST SLUM HOUSING

The City of Pasadena created the C.R.A.S.H. team in February 1993 to provide a coordinated, proactive and streamlined approach to the enforcement of code violations and slum conditions within the city.

The team is coordinated by the City Prosecutor’s office and made up of senior inspectors from Code Compliance, the Health Department, Fire Department and the Police Department. The team meets weekly and targets the worst habitability hazard properties within the city. Investigative and litigation resources are directed towards slum locations in order to provide a complete habitability profile with rehabilitation and abatement as the goals.

The operational plan for C.R.A.S.H. is to identify a target property and immediately conduct a property evaluation to determine if the location contains "severe and immediate code violations." Once this is determined, the C.R.A.S.H. team inspectors inspect the qualifying properties and a Notice of Violation is issued on site to the owner of the property. An owner meeting is set up within a week of the inspection with the owner and the team inspectors. The purpose of this meeting is to inform the owner of the violations and to notify the owner of the 30-day compliance date.

The property owner is given 30 days to bring the property up to code. The C.R.A.S.H. team conducts a reinspection on day 31. If the property is up to code, the location is put on a quarterly inspection schedule to assure that the violations do not recur. If the violations are not abated, a criminal complaint is filed against the property owner.