Arcata Seeks Community Input on Residential Rental Inspection Program Ordinance
This is a press release from the City of Arcata:
The City of Arcata is in the process of creating a Residential Rental Inspection Program to proactively address the issue of substandard long-term rental properties that create threats to the tenant’s safety and the integrity of the building.
As part of the process, City staff recently introduced a Residential Rental Unit Inspection Program Ordinance (Ordinance 1552) at the City Council meeting held on Wednesday, September 15, and the ordinance is scheduled to be adopted at the upcoming City Council meeting on Wednesday, October 20.
Before the ordinance is adopted, the City is encouraging residents to reach out with their comments and suggestions. Feedback from the community is crucial when designing and implementing an equitable program that supports all members of the community and promotes the health and safety of Arcata’s neighborhoods. The ordinance can be reviewed online here. Those who will be directly affected by this program, including renters and property owners, are especially encouraged to share their input.
The Building & Engineering Department will host a public meeting to receive additional feedback and input on the ordinance before it is adopted. The meeting will take place on Zoom on Monday, September 27 at 5:30 p.m. More information on how to access the meeting can be found here.
Those who are unable to attend the public meeting are encouraged to submit comments to the Building & Engineering Department by email at [email protected] or by calling (707) 825-2156. Comments should be submitted to the department by Tuesday, October 5 at 4:30 p.m. Public comments will also be accepted on this topic at the Arcata City Council meeting on Wednesday, October 20.
For more information, please reach out to the Building and Engineering Department at (707)-825-2156.
The City of Arcata is in the process of creating a Residential Rental Inspection Program to proactively address the issue of substandard long-term rental properties that create threats to the tenant’s safety and the integrity of the building.
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
This is an excellent way to increase rental prices throughout Arcata. What a great policy to drive the poor from minimal housing to no housing. Good job Arcata!
Yes, this does sound like a great way to drive out people barely finding a place to live so people with more money have room to move into. On its face it sounds like a good idea. Reality, some places aren’t perfect but do provide shelter to the tenant and modest income for landlord. The result will be to force people to upgrade to current compliance, which will force remodeling of units and higher rents to pay for the costs. It will have the reverse affect. Humboldt County housing is already in severe crisis. This will exacerbate it. Humboldt County and cities need to fast track affordable housing NOW. The pot train went off the tracks and is gone. While housing skyrocketed. This will be the future of Humboldt if nothing is done. High crime and homelessness amid Bay Area prices. The haves and have nots in glaring opposition to each other.
There’s no free mortgage. Many landlords had to suck it up last year.
As an Arcata landlord who takes excellent care of my rental, always fixes things promptly, and charges rent well below market to maintain good tenants, if this is passed, I will need to pass the cost on to the tenants via a rent hike. At least in my case, it is senseless as I take excellent care of my rental, so they really should find a way to focus in on the problematic rentals and landlords instead of imposing an overall policy that will just lead to increased rental rates in a town that already has gotten rather unaffordable for most.
Just what we need, another regulatory agency. Another bureaucrat gets a non-productive job.
Remember when people had actual basic industry jobs? Like baking bread, growing carrots, making boards, or building houses. Jobs that actually produced a product that filled a human need.
Now all we have is jobs that tell people what they can’t do. How you can’t grow your dope, how you can’t live your life, how you can’t rent a house, etc, etc, etc… Etcetera!
I don’t understand why the press release is written stating that the ordinance is going to be passed. It seems worthless to solicit public input if the council already has their intentions set. I know landlords are not in favor of this ordinance. Renters probably will suffer from the unintended consequences. I know there has been quite a bit of feedback provided already that a program to voluntarily report building code violations would be more effective and less costly. I think the City issued the press release so that they could say they met their duty of soliciting public input, even if they ignore the input they have received.
So now Arcata is going into the rental business, assuming total control over all residential housing units, but assuming none of the risks involved with property management. I cannot believe anyone with the ability to think, would support this intrusion into private property ownership. It establishes a new regulatory department (housing police) which will have no limits on fees, fines and authority and will be funded 50% by tenants and 50% by property owners. This will only increase rents and limit future rental availability. There are already remedies available to correct substandard rental deficiencies, through existing building and health and safety code enforcement. Why make all rental owners and good tenants pay for problems of a small percentage of bad landlords, or their tenants?
I find it very troubling that in the press release, the council indicates it will be adopted on October 20th, and this is just a formality? According to the ordinance, all property owners will have only 60 days to register their properties and make arrangements for inspections. This sounds a lot like 1936 Germany or in soviet era Eastern Europe. Please read this ordinance and make your voices heard.
https://www.cityofarcata.org/DocumentCenter/View/11365/Ordinance-1552-Residential-Rental-Inspection-Program
Laws like this are systemically Racist, and ending up pushing out the poorest of us. The cost will always roll down to the tenant. The bad part for the landlord is you now have a regulator who gets to tell how you have to do thing like replace window, update electrical not to mention coming up with their own agendas. I have a rental in another county under section 8 housing. I had an inspection which failed. No problem I hired an electrician to remedy a broken receptacle and ensure that the circuits are on gfi. The electrician took care of all of this. 2nd inspection failed again the inspector was not satisfied with the repairs. I then got a copy of the housing authority codes and standards and was prepared for the third inspection. The inspector was going to fail me again. I read him the code and he told me that he knows what it said, and that he did not care. I called the local housing authority inspection division and ask for a supervisor. I explained my situation and the code and the inspector even agreed that I was correct as the code was written. The supervisor said he would look into it and he would call back. He called back after a few minutes and told the inspector that he was wrong and to pass the property. This is what happens some of these inspectors get the god complex and they mess with the landlords because they can. It happened to me. The fact is a large number of municipalities that voted in rental inspections have dropped the program because it created more problems than it was solving. Good luck Arcata