Published: May 09, 2008 01:50 pm      

Jeffersonville seeks rental property spruce-up

Councilwoman says program could correct blighted rentals in Jeff

Jeffersonville officials plan to perk up rental housing through a Los Angeles-born program that forces landlords to keep their properties up to code.

Under the proposed program, a per-unit fee assessed to landlords would pay for code-enforcement officers, who would make sure dwellings are livable and function.

“We have a huge problem in Jeffersonville with landlords not keeping up with their buildings,” said Councilwoman Connie Sellers, who’s spearheading efforts to bring the program to the city. In many cases, she said, apartment buildings are erected, look great and then 10 or 15 years later are in a state of blight.

Jeffersonville’s per-capital rental-housing rate, at 38 percent, exceeds that of Clark County, at 30 percent, and the statewide rate of 29 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The proposal comes with many questions, said Ruth Gilmore, property manager at Lighthouse Apartments in Jeffersonville. She wonders if the inspectors will be certified in the equipment or items they’re inspecting, and she worries about the costs associated with such a program.

“I can see how it could be good if it’s an old place,” she said.

However, many of the older places are subsidized by the federal Section Eight program — apartments she believes should be inspected anyway.

The program Sellers is proposing started in Los Angeles in the late 1990s as a way to address deteriorating rental property in that city. Officers there do scheduled inspections, post-complaint inspections and inspections before new tenants occupy units, a press release from the city said.

Since the program’s founding, more than 1.5 million habitability violations have been corrected and landlords have invested an estimated $1.3 billion in improvements to the apartments they own.

Rental housing quality is a significant issue in Los Angeles, because approximately 60 percent of the city’s residents rent their homes and more than one quarter of renters pay more than half of their incomes for housing.

“It has removed a lot of blight (in Los Angeles,)” said Sellers. “They’ve been able to force these landlords to fix their rentals.”

Pat Harrison, who rents out property in New Albany, said concerns can be taken to that city and inspections aren’t necessary.

“I think that’s fine, that’s enough.

“My units are safe. And if they aren’t safe, I shouldn’t be renting them.”

There will be some obvious differences between the Los Angles program and a Jeffersonville program, Sellers said. Inspections would likely be done every three years, rather than every year as they are there. And inspectors likely would look at both apartment complexes and rental houses.

Essentials — such as roofs, plumbing and electrical outlets — would be inspected, she said. Other items such as moldy walls or even junk cars on the lawn could be grounds for a violation, as well, depending on how the ordinance is eventually written.

“It’s to make sure that anything that’s in that apartment is working properly,” Sellers said.

Currently, no such enforcement is in place, the city’s code enforcers typically only examine new constructions.

Sellers initially heard about the program during a National League of Cities conference in New Orleans last year. The city is hosting a day-long workshop with leaders from the Los Angeles program on May 22 at 300 Spring. Seller said New Albany and Clarksville officials will be invited to attend.