Loading...
Housing Code Exterior Enforcement InitiativeMasterpiece on the Mississippi TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager SUBJECT: Housing Code Exterior Enforcement Initiative DATE: September 2, 2010 Dubuque krfrad NI- AmerlcaCity r 2007 One of the recommendations from the Safe Community Task Force is to "intensify exterior code enforcement efforts." This comes from the public's sense that insufficient attention is being directed toward improving the appearance of housing, particularly for rental units, and that following the "broken window" theory that the condition of neighborhoods can create an environment that seems more inviting to the commission of crimes. Housing Department inspection staff reached a goal in FY 2010 of reducing the rental unit inspection cycle to five years; previously it had taken seven or more years to inspect the City's 7500 rental units. The Department expects to improve on this even more in this fiscal year, as more automated inspection features of the software system are incorporated. However, the appearance of many residential rental buildings remains substandard. Visiting these properties only once in five years clearly does not respond to the need for more frequent correction of code deficiencies. In response to the Safe Community Task Force recommendation, City staff has developed a proposal for a pilot program to inspect only the exteriors of rental dwellings, as follows: 1. This pilot program would be established as a one -year initiative. 2. It would begin in downtown neighborhoods identified as most in need of additional enforcement. 3. Housing inspectors would inspect only the exteriors of rental buildings, sending notices to owners of all exterior code violations. 4. Inspectors would continue to respond to any and all complaints regarding interior housing code problems, to all cases of elevated blood lead levels of occupant children, and otherwise normally inspect all Section 8 Program units. 5. After one year, the impact of this approach would be evaluated. The advantage of this pilot approach would be to inspect many more buildings than the current practice of inspecting both interior and exterior conditions. Typically, a `cycle' inspection (once in five years), is scheduled for one and one -half hours. An exterior - only inspection could be completed in about 30 minutes. In theory, this increases the inspection output in this demonstration year by 300 %. In other words, instead of completing 1500 inspections /year (20% of the total 7500 units), this system would accomplish 4500 exterior -only inspections in one year. If these performance numbers are achieved, the result should be a dramatic impact in the appearance of rental housing. A large majority of all downtown rental units should be completed, where the need for more frequent inspections of 100+ year -old housing is greatest. The impact on neighborhoods should be significant. The downside of this initiative will be loss of interior inspection productivity. This will delay inspection of 1500 apartments that would be inspected to insure the health and safety of the tenants, which is a primary objective of our code enforcement program. The City would, however, continue to respond to all complaints of rental housing conditions. I concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council approval. Mi ael C. Van Milligen MCVM:jh Attachment cc: Safe Community Task Force Barry Lindahl, City Attorney Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager David Harris, Housing and Community Development Department Director Mark Dalsing, Chief of Police Crenna Brumwell, Assistant City Attorney Jerelyn O'Connor, Neighborhood Development Specialist Phyllis Russell, Management Intern Masterpiece on the Mississippi TO: Michael Vanen, City Manager FROM: David Ha ris, Housing and Community Development Department SUBJECT: Housing Code Exterior Enforcement Initiative DATE: 1 September 10 Dubuque NI- AmedcaCity 11111r 2007 Introduction The purpose of this memorandum is to propose a pilot program of intensified exterior housing code enforcement. Discussion A recommendation from the Safe Community Task Force is to "intensify exterior code enforcement efforts." This comes from the public's sense that insufficient attention is being directed toward improving the appearance of housing, particularly for rental units. Housing Department inspection staff reached a goal in FY 2010 of reducing the rental unit inspection cycle to five years; previously it had taken seven or more years to inspect the City's 7500 rental units. We expect to improve on this even more in this fiscal year, as we incorporate more automated inspection features of the software system we have developed. However, the appearance of many residential rental buildings remains substandard. Visiting these properties only once in five years clearly does not respond to the need for more frequent correction of code deficiencies. In response to the SCTF recommendation, we have developed a proposal for a pilot program to inspect only the exteriors of rental dwellings, as follows: 1. This pilot program would be established as a one -year initiative. 2. It would begin in downtown neighborhoods identified as most in need of additional enforcement. 3. Housing inspectors would inspect only the exteriors of rental buildings, sending notices to owners of all exterior code violations. 4. Inspectors would continue to respond to any and all complaints regarding interior housing code problems, to all cases of elevated blood lead levels of occupant children, and otherwise normally inspect all Section 8 Program units. 5. After one year, we would evaluate the impact of this approach. The advantage of this pilot approach would be to inspect many more buildings than if we were to normally inspect for both interior and exterior conditions. Typically, a 'cycle' inspection (once in five years), is scheduled for one and one -half hours. We would expect to complete an exterior -only inspection in about 30 minutes. In theory, this means we could increase our inspection output in this demonstration year by 300 %. In other words, if we typically complete 1500 inspections /year (20% of the total 7500 units), then we could accomplish 4500 exterior -only inspections in one year. If we can reach these performance numbers, the result should be a dramatic impact in the appearance of rental housing. We should be able to inspect a large majority of all downtown rental units, where the need for more frequent inspections of 100+ year -old housing is greatest. The impact on neighborhoods should be significant. The downside of this initiative will be loss of interior inspection productivity. We will delay inspection of 1500 apartments we would otherwise perform to insure the health and safety of the tenants, which is a primary objective of our code enforcement program. We would, however, continue to respond to all complaints of rental housing conditions. Action Step The action requested of the City Council is to authorize the Housing Department to initiate a one -year pilot program of exterior -only housing code enforcement in rental properties, in response to the recommendation of the Safe Community Task Force.