INC NEWS - City Planning Rental Code Enforcement Program and Task Force

[RW Pickle]

>From the City PR Dept.
RWP
27 Beverly

New Program Would Establish Systematic Inspections of All Residential
Rental Properties
 
Durham, N.C. – How to eliminate shoddy rental properties will be the focus
of a new City of Durham program and task force currently being designed to
eradicate substandard rental housing throughout the community.
 
The City’s Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services is assessing
the development of a new Rental Occupancy Code Enforcement Program, a
long-term, multi-year strategy that would provide systematic inspection of
all single-family rental properties and multi-family complexes in the
City.   The program is part of the department’s overall strategy to
improve and preserve the physical condition of housing and commercial
properties across the City.
 
According to Constance Stancil, the director of the City’s Department of
Neighborhood Improvement Services, the goal behind developing this new
program is to proactively address substandard rental housing in Durham. 
“Two of our main goals are to reduce the number of substandard rental
housing units and promote responsible management of rental housing
properties,” Stancil said.  “We feel that if we can focus our efforts on
these types of properties over the next several years, we will reduce the
likelihood that rental housing will become unfit and uninhabitable as well
as reduce the likelihood that rental housing will become a public
nuisance.”
 
In addition to creating this new program, the department is also
developing a community-wide Rental Housing Task Force, a key component of
the program that would focus on how to enforce the program’s guidelines
and procedures.  The task force, which met for the first time last week,
consists of City employees, realtors and several community advocates. 
After its first meeting, the task force has formed itself into
subcommittees to tackle the feasibility of such issues as examining other
city programs nationwide, identifying the problems of tenants and
landlords, pinpointing the impact of rental issues for communities and
neighborhoods, and focusing on the legal aspects of the new program.
 
Durham residents interested in additional information about the proposed
Rental Occupancy Code Enforcement Program and Rental Housing Task Force
should contact James Ragin, housing inspector with the City’s Department
of Neighborhood Improvement Services, at (919) 560-4570 or via e-mail at
james.ragin at durhamnc.gov.
 
About the Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services
The City of Durham’s Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services is
dedicated to improving the quality of life for Durham’s residents by
increasing access to safe, livable housing and by aesthetically improving
the City-built environment through its code enforcement and impact teams.
The department provides community relations assistance to neighborhoods
for organizing communities, addressing neighborhood challenges and forming
neighborhood associations.  For more information about this department,
contact (919) 560-4570.