A forum was held at Shiloh Baptist Church last night on Henderson’s proposed Permit to Rent a Dwelling in the City of Henderson Ordinance, commonly referred to as the Certificate of Occupancy (CO) ordinance.
The meeting was conducted by Henderson City Council member Garry Daeke who chairs the Community Development Committee. A little over 100 people attended.
Daeke’s committee oversaw the development of the ordinance in conjunction with Planning and Community Development Director Erris Dunston and City staff.
The meeting was called by Daeke to give tenants in Henderson to voice their views on the proposed ordinance which passed its first reading before the City Council by a five to three vote with Council members Bernard Alston, Lonnie Davis, and Mary Emma Evans voting against it.
A city ordinance must have a two-thirds majority to pass on the first reading.
Davis and Evans are the other two members of Daeke’s committee.
The ordinance will most likely have a second reading at the September 22 Council meeting. On the second reading, it must have a simple majority to go onto the books.
At the outset of the meeting, Daeke reviewed what the City has done regarding revisions to its Minimum Housing Ordinance. He acknowledged that minimum housing code was not pursued “aggressively” in the past.
Noting that Henderson is comprised of 60% renters, Daeke said that the Council wanted to have something to make houses safe and liveable.
Daeke said that the CO’s intent was to create a systematic way to meet standards for rental properties. He said that the inspections would be triggered when water service is begun.
The Community Development Committee chair said that his committee had “compromised” on when the inspection takes place.
Originally, the ordinance called for inspections before the tenant occupied the property. Because of objections by landlords regardings turn-around time, expense of turning on utilities, and loss of rental income, the committee agreed to a 30-day window for inspection.
Daeke said that many people had called him and said that the City should not enter occupied dwellings.
“It was insensitive to renters,” Daeke said, speaking of the compromise.
Daeke emphasized that the CO inspections were of no cost to renters and that re-inspections were a cost borne by owners. He also said that the cost of repairs was not something that the City was putting on the renter.
Daeke then took an opportunity to go through a “Myth Busters” fact sheet prepared by City staff that was distributed before the forum began. Landlord representative Mike Satterwhite distributed a memorandum before the meeting began as well.
After emphasizing that reinspection should not be charged to the tenant, that the City would not pay to move tenants if houses did not meet the criteria for a CO, that houses could be “pre-inspected” (inspected before tenant takes possession), and that the City was not inspecting to look at personal belongings, Daeke opened the floor to comments.
Evans was the first to speak, saying that she was surprised because it was the first time she had seen the “Myth Busters” sheet. She indicated that she thought “something like this” should have been distributed beforehand.
The first audience question asked if a landlord could come in anytime. Another member of the audience answered, stating that the landlord has to give 24 hours’ notice.
Daeke added that the City will only come at scheduled times.
Another audience question asked what the City would be looking at. Daeke replied that the City would look at plumbing, electrical work, floors, and other major safety items.
The Reverend C.J. Dale commented that he felt the CO was “biased” because most renters are African-American. He said that the CO was being “micromanaged” by the Council should not have the power to enter.
When Daeke tried to interrupt Dale’s remarks, saying that he wanted to hear from tenants, Dale objected to being interrupted.
Dale continued by saying that landlords “really help people” and that the CO was unfair to landlords.
“Ever since we’ve had this new council it’s been hell in this city,” Dale said.
Dale indicated that the Council should put the need for jobs above the CO.
Another audience member commented that the CO was just trying to make sure that [tenants] have a decent house. The audience member said that it has nothing to do with race. The audience contributor said that the people on the Council who are objecting “have nice, clean places to live”.
A participant in the forum stated that the City is trying to make a minimum standard of living for everyone. Stating that Henderson is a “HUD area”, the participant said that people who collect rent get government money to fix houses that they are only using for that purpose in “certain areas”.
The participant went on to say that [tenants] cannot afford to live in a house with mold and mildew, and cannot afford to rent a house with cracked windows because they cannot afford to heat it.
Another forum attendee said that she did not want anyone coming into her house. She said that there are some good landlords.
Daeke agreed that 89% of Henderson landlords are “good”.
The forum attendee said that houses that look like “they are falling down” are the ones the City needs to look at.
A gentleman who said he was new to the City claimed it took him eight months to find a place to live because he could not plug anything in because of antiquated electrical receptacles. He asked Daeke to collect fire data on rentals.
Daeke said that data on houses that are inspected would be gathered.
A woman in the audience claimed that people have “a constitutional right to live in safety”. She said that “post-inspections” (inspections after the tenant has moved in) would lead to claims that the tenant had caused damage. She claimed that the costs to landlords for utility service for inspection was the cost of ownership. She also objected to lowering penalties for landlords in the CO ordinance for not doing repairs.
An audience member asked if complaints would get priority. Daeke replied that tenant complaints would always get priority, and that the City was looking into taking on two additional staff members to handle inspections. Later in the meeting, Daeke talked about Saturday inspections to accommodate tenants’ work schedules.
Another forum participant told a story about moving into a house that appeared to have been remodeled. After moving in, she discovered that a hole in the floor had had linoleum placed over it and that a leaky pipe had been hidden by plaster in the bathroom.
“I vote for inspection,” she said.
She then asked what the consequences were for failing the inspection. Daeke replied that the landlord has to fix the problem or the tenant is given time to move.
The woman replied that having to move is an “inconvenience” and a “hardship”.
Daeke replied that if a 30 day inspection (“post-inspection”) is done that these situations would come up.
An audience member asked where people would move to if forced to leave their rental by the CO inspection. Daeke replied that they would move to another rental.
The same audience member asked how long it took to relocate the residents of Beacon Light Apartments.
“Longer than we wanted,” Daeke said.
The audience member asked Daeke to keep that in mind, as well as the homeless population and unemployment rate of the region. The audience member also expressed doubt that two additional inspectors could handle “thousands of properties”.
The audience member concluded by saying that abandoned houses should have been looked at first.
Daeke explained that it costs $5,000 to “put an abandoned house in the landfill”. He said that there are 200 abandoned houses in Henderson or $1 million worth. Abandoned houses are owned by people who live out of town, so frequently the money for demolition and disposal comes from taxes. He said that if we wait to solve abandoned houses, it will be 20 years before the CO is addressed.
Another participant in the forum said that the CO is an invasion of privacy. She characterized the inspector as an “uninvited guest” and therefore an “invader”.
She asked if the CO insinuates that renters are not capable of calling landlords.
“I have sense to go to my landlord myself,” she said.
Another audience member said that she had been renting from the Rogers Group since 1996 and did not want the City in her home. She said that the City is not [inspecting] people who own their own homes. She said that she lives on a fixed income and can’t make an “agreement” for her non-housing bills, such as water, electricity, and telephone.
Candidate for the Ward 3 Seat Frank Terry, characterizing himself as a “concerned citizen” and member of Clean-Up Henderson said that he had heard the concerns.
“I’m in support of passing the rental CO,” Terry said.
Terry went on to say that the condition of some of the houses are like [people] are living on the street anyway.
A man in the audience told a story about a man dying because of a kerosene heater when the landlord refused to put in a heater. He also related a story about finding a possum “in a kitchen drawer” having babies because the landlord would not patch the holes in the house.
“These are the landlords we’re talking about,” he said.
Angela Harris said that the City needs to “work on multiple tracks”. She said that the City must create housing and clean up rentals at the same time. She also said that the City needs to find resources to repair houses.
The Reverend John Miles said that he was concerned that people were not telling their landlords about their problems. He went on to say that during election time that the City Council was “playing you against each other”.
“Don’t allow the enemy to divide your community,” Miles said.
Miles asked why [the CO] didn’t happen during “Beacon light time”?
He concluded his remarks by saying that the “City Council doesn’t care anything about you.”
Daeke responded strongly to Miles’ remarks, saying “When I saw Beacon Light, I closed Beacon Light.”
Henderson City Council member Elissa Yount responded to some of Harris’ remarks by saying that Henderson is partnering. She said there is a CBDG grant in North Henderson as well as other neighborhoods around the City. She also said that Powell Bill money is “all over this town”.
Yount also mentioned that Henderson as a scattered-site grant which will repair private property of the elderly and infirmed and will also help the Section 8 renter move to home ownership.
Brenda Peace, Yount’s opponent for the Ward 3 At Large seat in next month’s election asked if the issues were coming out of minimum housing.
Daeke responded, “Yes and no.” He said that more things would be “seen” with a systematic approach to housing inspection. He also mentioned that the CO ordinance might not be needed “forever”.
“Some people can’t talk to their landlords,” Daeke said.
An audience member said she supported the CO because many houses in the community “do not meet any kind of standard”. She said that the people on the City Council 30 years ago never intended to enforce [minimum housing code] because they were landlords and the people who helped get them elected were landlords.
County Commissioner Scott Hughes threw his political weight behind the CO when he said that he admired the City Council for taking on the task.
He refuted Miles’ assertion that the CO is political by saying that it would hurt [the Council], not help them.
Stating that the CO is not about racism, Hughes said he would like to see it enacted county-wide.
Hughes said that when the CO called for a pre-occupancy inspection, the landlords said they would lose money, so the City compromised. Then the landlords said it was a privacy issue.
“Not everything is a political game,” Hughes said. “Just because I said this I guarantee I lost ten friends.”
Miles was heard to say “Including me” as Hughes spoke.
Deryl von Williams also came out in support of the CO, comparing the situation to a baby with a full diaper.
“Everyone knows it needs to be changed,” Von Williams said.
Von Williams told the audience that “this council” did something about Beacon Light where the previous Council did not.
She stated that she supported pre-inspection.
“Life is more important that landlord complaints,” Von Williams said. She encouraged the audience to get involved and find out “what people are doing to you and for you.”
Landlord attorney Mike Satterwhite said that there had been “misstatements” during the meeting.
Satterwhite said that landlords were in favor of changes to the Minimum Housing Ordinance. He said that is what will protect [the tenant].
He said that the landlord should be asked to fix problems, and that if the landlord does not make repairs, tenants should contact the City.
Satterwhite claimed that the CO discriminates between owners and renters.
“Why don’t they inspect everybody’s house?” he asked.
Satterwhite said that landlords are not responsible for the invasion of privacy issue. He said that they asked for inspections to be done within 30 days because the City did not have enough employees to inspect before tenants move in.