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COVER STORY
HOMESICK neighborhoods as the U.S. prepared for a Zika outbreak, didn’t have air conditioning or proper drainage. Water from a bathtub dumped out under the home, creating a breeding ground for mosquitos. When the tenants complained, the landlord asked them to leave, then rented the houses out again. One tenant, Shawanda Holmes, ended up moving in with her mother, who lived in a unit owned by the same landlord. Holmes appeared at City Hall Jan. 18 in tears. “They don’t see the people,” she said. “They just see the cash.” The city and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) rebuilt less than 13 percent of the public housing units that were demolished after Hurricane Katrina, creating a long waiting list for housing assistance, while the private housing market becomes less and less affordable. “People are paying a higher and higher percentage, they’re paying more and more in rent, and housing quality is just not keeping pace,” says Monika Gerhart-Hambrick, director of policy and communications with the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. “You’d think if you pay more, you’d get more, and that’s just simply not the case. … Families that are cash-strapped, they’re putting all their money into rent, and there’s very little left over.” Supporters of a citywide rental registry see it as a first step toward improving the rental stock by ensuring all rentals meet basic health and safety standards. “The kind of standard we’re talking about is homes connected to sewage and water, connected to power, there aren’t gaping holes in walls and windows and ceilings,” Gerhart-Hambrick says. “The inspections affirm that every rental meets that minimal standard of habitability.” A citywide rental registry, as proposed, applies to most rental properties, with registration opening Jan. 1, 2018. Properties with 10 or more units must register by March 31, 2018; properties with five to nine units by Aug. 31, 2018; and one to four units by Dec. 31, 2018. Registration information — including the landlord’s name and address — will enter a publicly accessible database. Landlords will pay a
If we’re “ going to
improve the quality of life for all New Orleanians, we’re going to have to improve the rental stock.
LATOYA CANTRELL
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It is com“ pletely illogical to define all landlords by the actions or omissions of a few.
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SIXTEEN LANDLORDS AND DEVELOPERS IN A LETTER TO THE CITY COUNCIL
$60 registration fee, then $40 for annual renewals. Then come the inspections. The city Department of Code Enforcement will mail an inspection notice to a landlord and tenant at least 14 days before a scheduled inspection. (Landlords can reschedule within 21 days of the scheduled inspection date.) Properties with one to four units will be inspected at a cost of $50 per unit, and all units on the property will be inspected. At least 50 percent of units on properties with five to 29 units will be inspected, at least 20 percent of units on properties with 30-49 units will be inspected, and at least 15 percent of units on properties with 50 or more units will be inspected. It will cost $40 per unit for properties with five to nine units, and $30 per unit for properties with 10 or more units. Owners must be present for inspections. Here’s the checklist: units must have a working smoke detector and fire alarm, working plumbing, a shower or bathtub, kitchen sink and flushable toilet, access to hot water, ability to ensure temperatures don’t dip below 68 degrees, working gas appliances (if applicable), and no leaks in roofs, windows and doors or significant cracks or holes, and no signs of rodents or infestation. If the unit passes inspection, it receives a Certificate of Compliance. Under the proposed law, tenants can’t live at the property if it doesn’t have that certificate. Properties in violation of the ordinance could be subject to liens. If the inspection finds unnamed “immediate hazards,” the unit has to be vacated within 30 days. Properties that pass a first inspection don’t have to be inspected for another three years. Properties that fail must be inspected two years later. Properties that fail two consecutive inspections must be inspected every six months the first year and annually for the next three years. Landlords can appeal failed inspections. Averaging small and large rental operators, Gerhart-Hambrick estimates the fees amount to an average of $3 per apartment each month. “While we do expect some landlords to pass the cost on to tenants, at $3 a month, we feel it’s worth peace of mind,” Gerhart-Hambrick says. “The kind of deferred maintenance we see, there’s not a lot of incentive to reinvest in your property if you know you can rent it out again anyway. Now there’s some incentive to do so.”
In a letter sent to the City Council, a group of 16 property
managers, developers and landlords said a rental registry would violate landlords’ and renters’ Fourth Amendment rights and that the current complaint-based system of code enforcement “effectively, efficiently and economically addresses the reported problem(s) and provides an effective and expeditious resolution.” It also accuses proponents of creating a false narrative using baseless figures that don’t represent the realities of most renters, and that registry proponents are “exploiting a few problems” to “fabricate a nonexistent crisis that reeks of demagoguery.” “It is completely illogical to define all landlords by the actions or omissions of a few and is wrong to cite a limited number of problems as proof of a systemic breakdown in the rental industry,” the letter reads. It also warns that a registry would “destroy affordable housing and drive rents through the roof.” Among its signatories are Bob Chopin of Uptown Realty Management and developer Neal Morris of Redmellon. At the Jan. 18 hearing, Morris said the cost of the program could be much larger than the registration fees it collects. Inspections likely will be performed by the California-based company NMA Inspections, which the city hired last year following a request for proposals that attracted only three bids. NMA won. The proposed program, which proponents say will be revenue neutral, would be funded by fines and fees. Opponents of the idea say the cost of those fines and fees would be passed on to renters — essentially paying for a program designed to protect them. Currently, renters with property issues can report them to Code Enforcement via 3-1-1 — a system housing advocates say doesn’t respond well to renters. The proposed ordinance aims to end reliance on a complaintdriven system and prevent complaints from ever happening. Currently, if Code Enforcement responds — and the landlord responds — it’s often at the expense of the tenant. “The tenant calls the city, the city calls the landlord, the landlord asks the tenant to leave,” Gerhart-Hambrick says. “This isn’t all landlords. I think there’s a market of slumlords operating throughout the city, and I think