City rolling out rental improvement programs
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Lolita Harper
Second-rate rental housing has been a sore subject for city
leaders for years. A Planning Commission presentation Monday of a
program designed to combat it marks the second of its kind this
campaign season.
For several months, the Planning Commission has been working with
planners and city building officials to develop a rental housing
improvement program designed to identify substandard housing with
interior and exterior inspections of rental units.
Although Monday will mark the unveiling of the proposed program --
pushed in large part by Planning Commission Chairwoman and City
Council candidate Katrina Foley -- the opposition is already moving .
Councilman Gary Monahan, who is up for reelection, took the reigns
on the housing issue and quickly and easily promoted his own program,
which he says cancels any need for more rental regulation.
Also resistant to the Planning Commission’s program was the Rental
Housing Independent, which launched a 300-person phone poll to tell
traditionally conservative voters that Foley is a registered Democrat
and an attorney.
Despite the premature scrutiny, planning commissioners said they
were anxious to share their possible ideas for ensuring clean, safe
and attractive rental properties throughout the city.
“I am pleased to see that the Planning Commission is finally going
to have the opportunity to present a draft proposal for improving
substandard housing in our city,” Foley said. “Now people can make an
informed opinion on whether we should continue to spend taxpayer
dollars managing absentee landlord properties or take aggressive
action so that those owners are held accountable.”
The night’s program will include a presentation from Santa Ana
officials, who have implemented their own fee-based rental housing
program, a video of examples of some of the worst properties in the
city and clarification about the recent strategy pushed by Monahan
and unanimously approved by the City Council.
Council members approved a minor wording change in city codes that
places eliminating unhealthy living conditions as the No. 1 goal of
the building department.
Foley has consistently contended the council’s action cannot take
the place of the more comprehensive program she and her colleagues
have worked so hard to implement. She said she is happy council
members are taking positive steps and hopes the council-level program
will serve as an interim, test program.
Rick Brown, the city’s building department head, said he would use
the next six months to execute, track and record the progress of his
recent council directives. Brown, who recently found himself in the
middle of a political war between the two city leaders, said he will
continue to be responsive to both the council and commission and
focus on the commonalities of the two programs.
Both programs target the most deplorable examples and depend
largely on the cooperation of building owners, who ultimately decide
whether to allow building officials to inspect. If serious roadblocks
are put up, it could take building officials months to secure a
safety check.
At the end of the interim period, Brown will have a good idea of
the strengths and weaknesses of enforcement and will report his
findings back to the Planning Commission. They, in turn, can use the
concrete data to implement a more comprehensive plan, he said.
“I’ve been assigned a pilot program, even though it is not
necessarily labeled that way,” Brown said, adding that the next six
months will be mutually beneficial to all involved.
* LOLITA HARPER covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)
574-4275 or by e-mail at [email protected].
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