By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Bowling Green City Council committee charged with devising a way to improve the safety of rental housing agreed on a “conservative” approach to the issue Thursday evening.
The committee agreed to ask council to approve an ordinance heavy on self-inspections and light on independent inspections.
At least 60 cities in Ohio already have rental housing registration and inspection programs in place. Only six of those reportedly rely on self-inspections. But getting any serious inspection program passed in Bowling Green is believed to be impossible because of the strong landlord opposition, according to the three council members on the Community Improvement Committee – John Zanfardino, Jeff Dennis and Bill Herald.
Thursday evening was the 12th meeting held on the rental housing issue by the CIC. Many of the meetings included time for public input, but not this latest meeting.
On Monday evening, the first step of the rental legislation was introduced to City Council to create a registration of rental housing units in Bowling Green. The number is estimated to be more than 7,000.
The topic of Thursday’s meeting was inspections of rental units. Over the years, a variety of options have been suggested for independent inspections of rental homes – ranging from all units or varying percentages of the homes.
At the last meeting of the CIC, Dennis suggested that all rental units undergo an initial inspection by a city employee hired to perform that task. The inspections could be done at a lower cost to the landlords, and those rentals that passed could forego future inspections for a period.
But on Thursday, the committee agreed to support a watered down version – starting out with landlords doing self-inspections of their units. A small but yet undetermined percentage of rental units would undergo independent inspections if complaints were lodged by tenants, or if they were randomly selected.
“Everybody starts off with self-inspections. But they may lose the right to be there,” if complaints are filed, Herald said.
The city would have to approve the list of inspectors that could be used for the independent inspections.
Dennis questioned the use of third party inspectors, who would charge landlords hundreds of dollars per unit.
“The cost is going to get passed on to the tenant,” he said.
But the CIC was asked to come up with a plan that did not add to city bureaucracy.
All three CIC members agreed the ordinance should require that all tenants be made aware of resources available to them in case of problems with their rentals. A voice from the back of the room where several landlords were sitting, said “it’s called a lease.”
Dennis defended the role of landlords in the city.
“These are folks who have made significant investments in our community,” he said. “It’s easy to demonize them.”
But Zanfardino maintained that City Council owed it to the community to adopt a rental housing ordinance.
“This is not ‘us versus them,’” he said. It’s about turning around a decline in property values and neighborhoods that has been identified by multiple consultants.
“We have a town that is declining. It’s about joining the world of oversight,” said Zanfardino, who has served on City Council for 16 years. “No one’s ever said to me, ‘The town’s looking really swell, John.’”
A rental housing ordinance that only provides for self-inspections, “is basically to do nothing and kick the can down the road,” Zanfardino said.
“This is happening in 60 to 70 cities in Ohio,” he said. “I think as a college town – who hasn’t done it – we are remiss.”
The recommendations by the CIC will now go to City Council for discussion.
The next meeting of the CIC on the rental housing topic will focus on a checklist to be provided for inspections. A sample checklist has been given to the CIC by the city administration.
Herald suggested that the sample checklist be given to community stakeholders for their input. The list will go to the East Side Neighborhood Association and to the local landlords association for their suggestions of items that should be deleted from or added to the checklist.
The CIC will then meet on May 13, at 5:30 p.m., in the Veterans Building in City Park to discuss the proposed inspection checklist.
