Multifamily Blogs
What's Your Bedtime?
What's Your Bedtime?
When do you have to go to bed? Well, maybe you don’t have a bedtime, but do you have a curfew? Who is the boss of you anyway?
The topic of curfews comes up in my fair housing classes (notice the segue here – ahem) when I am speaking to the issue of reasonable v. unreasonable rules for children at apartment communities. I remind attendees that children are not a protected class (brats aren’t either, BTW), but that the adults, with whom children live, are protected from housing discrimination based on familial status (having a child under the age of 18). Then I cover the rules that are likely OK for a landlord to impose on children (in my mind, there are only 3). Often during that dialogue someone raises their hand and asks about curfews, as in “Isn’t it OK to have a curfew for children?”.
I usually respond by asking what time they require the Koreans to come in, or perhaps the Baptists, to make my point. Then I am assailed (it is not easy being a fair housing teacher) with comments. “The county has a curfew.” (Yep, it does – for public, not private property. Can the sheriff arrest you for having your child playing in the back yard late in the evening?) “Kids damage the property.” (Yep, sometimes they do. But your curfew means that you are fine with damage at the property as long as it is done by someone older than 18.) “Kids are at risk.” (Yep, they can be; call family services if you are concerned.) My position (which is not shared by all in the fair housing community, FYI) is that curfews could be considered a form of familial status discrimination.
What motivated me to write this particular blog is that I read an article on curfews by Chris Joyner with the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Joyner refers to Mike Males of the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice; Males is a leading researcher on teen curfews with his work being referenced often in both scholarly papers and the media. Now everyone does not agree with Mr. Males (I identify with that, yessir!) but here is what he has said “There’s pretty much no question that [curfew ordinances] aren’t effective in either reducing crime or preventing harm to young people.”
So now I can point that out when I am being beat upon for my anti-curfew stance. There is the aforesaid (love that word!) fair housing risk, and strong indications that curfews are not working anyway.
Any thoughts or input?
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