Rental Housing Inspection Programs: Improving Health and Safety

in our Homes

Mutual Housing Californiaand the

Sacramento Housing Alliance

California and local laws set forth standards for renters’ rights, requiring landlords to keep housing sufficiently safe and healthy for their tenants.

However, there is no consistent process for enforcing these standards across all the various jurisdictions in the state.

In many locales, it is up to the tenant to complain if they believe there are unsafe or unhealthy conditions in their home. This is called a reactive enforcement system.

Home Health and Safety

Problems with reactive enforcement:◦ Fear of retaliation/eviction◦ Lack of familiarity with or fear of public agencies◦ Language barriers

To address these issues, some jurisdictions have taken the lead by creating proactive enforcement programs, through which inspectors check on all local rental units over a specified period of time.

Before we get into that, let’s look at the scope of the issue locally.

Proactive Inspection

[Tammy Derby is working on getting me numbers from 2012 to illustrate violations they find both through call investigations and their non-policy-dictated proactive inspections.]

Scope of issue: Sacramento County

During its 2008-2009 fiscal year, the City of Sacramento conducted inspections at 2,943 rental housing units.

◦ Inspectors found one or more violations in 69 percent of the units they inspected.

◦ There were a total of 9,892 individual violations; often multiple violations in a unit.

◦ What are the most common things they find? Let’s take a look.

Scope of issue: City of Sacramento

Missing smoke detectors

Faulty electrical service

Top Ten Violations in the City

Lack of GFCI protection

Lack of weather protection

Top Ten continued

Lack of door viewer at front entry

Faulty water heater installations

Top Ten continued

Improper venting systems

Faulty plumbing

Top ten continued

Hazardous wiring Inadequate heating

Top ten continued

Health◦ Asthma◦ Infection

Safety◦ Fires◦ Shocks

Community Character and Property Values

Individual/Family/Community impact

The earlier-cited numbers from the City of Sacramento were for the first year of its proactive rental housing inspection policy.

For the 2011-12 fiscal year, the City inspected 6,847 rental units.◦ Only 30 percent had health and/or safety

violations, down from 69 in 2008-09.◦ There were 9,223 violations found, less than in

2008-09 in over twice as many units inspected.

Proactive policies are working

City adopted the program thanks in part to a strong advocacy effort among groups that represent diverse low-income renters

Key policy/program points:◦ All rentals inspected once every five years◦ Mandatory registration, $28/unit annual fee◦ 30 days to correct violations◦ Re-inspection fees if non-compliant◦ Self-certification for landlords who pass, with some

audits even for those units

City RHIP overview

Self-certification system by owners $12 per unit annual fee Still basically a reactive system, with

burden on renters. Inspectors do proactive checks, but it is not institutionalized in policy.

Some indication that the county may follow the city’s example and overhaul their program

Communities must be vigilant to make sure the County adopts a proactive policy

County of Sacramento

FAQ’s [try to anticipate some q’s from community]- make brief

FAQs

Full list of best policy/program practices available on request.

To report unsafe or unhealthy living conditions, call:◦ City of Sacramento: 311◦ County of Sacramento: 916-876-9020

Call or write your elected officials

To get involved with promoting best policy/program practice, contact Rachel Iskow of Mutual Housing California at rachel@mutualhousing.com

Next Steps: What Can You Do?