Modesto starts rental inspection program, will begin with problem properties
Modesto’s elected officials have approved an inspection program to protect residents living in the city’s roughly 40,000 rental properties, from single-family homes and duplexes to apartments and condos, especially low-income tenants who may be reluctant to complain.
City officials expect to launch the program within a few months and expect the program’s first year will focus on getting property owners and landlords to register their rentals with the city. Modesto plans to do public outreach to notify owners and landlords. Inspections could start in the program’s second year.
Modesto officials worked on the program for more than a year and it comes after the 2017 crisis at a dilapidated, two-story downtown apartment building that provided affordable housing for poor people with few options.
The building consisted of studio apartments that rented for about $585 a month, including utilities, but the Ninth Street property’s problems included mold, rats and cockroaches, rotting bathroom floors, holes in walls and floors, and bad plumbing.
The city condemned the building after the owner failed to make repairs, forcing out vulnerable, panicked tenants who scrambled to find new housing. The city 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.
Oscar Diaz, Modesto’s chief building official, told City Council members the city spent about $290,000 related to the apartment building, which included the cost of demolishing it, legal fees and financial assistance to help tenants move into new housing.
Modesto worked with the California Apartment Association; the Modesto-based property management firm Sweet Properties; tenant advocates Faith in the Valley; Project Sentinel, a housing counseling agency; and California Rural Legal Assistance, which represents low-income people; 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. The city could select properties at random, but Diaz said the city will begin its inspections on rental properties it knows have problems.
▪ 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 the program could have three code enforcement officers, two administrative assistants and an annual budget of about $400,000 in five years.
▪ 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 another government program, and housing that is less than 10 years old.
City officials and advocates say the program is needed because in a market where affordable housing is scarce, low-income tenants may not complain because they fear landlords will retaliate against them, including evicting them.
The City Council at its Sept. 10 meeting approved the program on a 4-0 vote. Councilmen Bill Zoslocki and Mani Grewal did not take part because they each had a conflict of interest because of their involvement in the rental housing industry. Councilwoman Kristi Ah You was not at the meeting.
The council is expected to give the program its second and final approval at its Tuesday meeting, and the program would take effect 30 days after that.
This story was originally published September 20, 2019 at 4:16 PM.
