Modesto eyes rental inspections that remove burden, and fear, from poor tenants
Modesto is poised to start a rental housing inspection program to ensure all residents living in the city’s roughly 40,000 rental properties — from single-family homes and duplexes to apartments and condos — have a decent, safe place to call home.
The City Council on Tuesday will be asked to approve what officials are calling the Rental Housing Safety Program, an effort the city started more than a year ago after it condemned a dilapidated apartment building.
Modesto has worked with the California Apartment Association, the Modesto-based property management firm Sweet Properties as well as tenant advocates Faith in the Valley, Project Sentinel and California Rural Legal Assistance in coming up with an ordinance for the program.
The program basics:
▪ Property owners in good standing with the city could conduct their own inspections and certify that their rental units meet program requirements. The city expects the majority of owners will do that.
▪ The program covers the basics for safe, habitable housing, including housing that is free of pest infestations, does not have sagging ceilings, rotting bathroom flooring or holes in the roof, and its plumbing and electrical are in good working order.
▪ The city could inspect as many as 10 percent of the rental units in a given year. In theory, a rental unit could be inspected once every decade if the city inspects 10 percent of the rental housing each year. The city could select properties at random for inspection or pick properties based on census tract and other information.
▪ The program would be self-sustaining once it is up and running and would be funded by the $100 the city would charge for each inspection it conducts. The city charges the same whether it inspects a 2,000-square-foot single-family home or a 700-square-foot one-bedroom apartment. (The city expects to spend the first year of the program getting all rental properties registered before starting inspections.)
▪ The city could fine owners who fail to register their properties, make false statements when they certify a property, and don’t make timely or adequate repairs after an inspection. For instance, the penalty for failing to register a property starts at $100 for being as many as 30 days late and increases to $1,000 per unit for being 120 days or more late, according to the program’s draft ordinance.
The program exempts some rental housing, including housing already inspected through a government program, such as Section 8 housing, and housing that is no more than 10 years old.
City officials moved forward with this ordinance after the 2017 crisis at 624 Ninth St., a dilapidated two-story building of 28 studio apartments that rented for about $585 a month including utilities.
The building was in deplorable condition, which included mold, rats and cockroaches, rotting bathroom floors, holes in walls and floors, and faulty plumbing and electrical. But it provided affordable housing for poor people who did not have better options.
The city condemned the building after the owner failed to make repairs, forcing out vulnerable, panicked tenants who scrambled to find new housing. Modesto, Stanislaus County and others tried to help tenants find housing. The building later caught fire after the city had boarded it up and what was left eventually was razed.
Tenants, especially low-income ones who have limited options in finding other housing, can be reluctant to ask landlords to fix problems or complain to the city for fear of retaliation or eviction. City officials have said this program gives them a tool to safeguard Modesto’s rental housing and ensure it is maintained to safe and habitable standards.
“I think the effect (of this program) will be a good one for our clients as far as addressing habitability issues,” said Marisol Aguilar, the CRLA’s community equity initiative program director. She stressed that as a nonprofit, CRLA cannot take a position on the proposed program.
Aguilar said the CRLA is hearing from more and more tenants who have habitability issues. The CRLA helps low-income people. She said while it is illegal for landlords to retaliate or evict tenants who complain, the reality is landlords find ways to get rid of tenants they consider problems.
When asked, she acknowledged some landlords could pass on the cost of repairs to their tenants by raising the rent, which may force out low-income tenants.
But Aguilar said she does not believe the program will have a drastic impact on low-income tenants’ ability to pay their rent because rents already are spiking because of the affordable housing crisis. “Rents will continue to go up with or without the rental inspection program,” she said.
She said the long-term solution is to build more housing for average people, from teachers to people making much less. “The big piece is more affordable housing that people can afford to buy or rent,” she said.
The City Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the basement chambers of Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.
