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Mutual Housing California and the Sacramento Housing Alliance

Rental Housing Inspection Programs: Improving Health and Safety in our Homes. Mutual Housing California and the Sacramento Housing Alliance. Home Health and Safety.

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Mutual Housing California and the Sacramento Housing Alliance

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  1. Rental Housing Inspection Programs: Improving Health and Safety in our Homes Mutual Housing California and the Sacramento Housing Alliance

  2. Home Health and Safety • 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.

  3. Proactive Inspection • 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.

  4. Scope of issue: City of Sacramento • 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.

  5. Top Ten Violations in the City • Faulty electrical service • Missing smoke detectors

  6. Top Ten continued • Lack of weather protection • Lack of GFCI protection

  7. Top Ten continued • Faulty water heater installations • Lack of door viewer at front entry

  8. Top ten continued • Faulty plumbing • Improper venting systems

  9. Top ten continued • Inadequate heating • Hazardous wiring

  10. Individual/Family/Community impact • Health • Asthma • Infection • Safety • Fires • Shocks • Community Character and Property Values

  11. Proactive policies are working • 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.

  12. City RHIP overview • 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

  13. County of Sacramento overview • In the unincorporated areas of Sacrament County, there are approximately 41,000 parcels with rental units. • 13,754 of these 41,000 parcels have been entered into the county’s RHIP database. • There are approximately 92,000 total rental units in the unincorporated County. • The County receives approximately 1,000 rental housing complaint calls each year and responds to all. • Approximately 12,000 rental units have been proactively inspected for the RHIP program over the last three years.

  14. County of Sacramento - 2012 • Approximately 6,600 multi-family rental unit inspections conducted. • 90% of inspected units had at least 1 violation • 2,600 were initial inspections • 2,500 units required re-inspections for compliance • 1,500 were still in violation after the first re-inspection • Approximately 500 single family rental inspections conducted. • 90 percent of units had at least 1 violation • Upon re-inspection, 80% were in compliance

  15. County of Sacramento policy • Self-certification system by owners • $12 per unit annual fee • Still basically a reactive system, with burden on renters • 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

  16. Next Steps: What Can You Do? • 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

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