Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
Anaheim rental inspections program nets $11,000 in fines
Listen
• 0:50
The city of Anaheim filed a criminal complaint in the last year against the owner of this rental property located in the 100 block of Stinston Street for failing to fix substandard housing code violations.
(
City of Anaheim
)
Anaheim has taken one landlord to court over slum housing conditions and collected about $11,000 in fines and fees from property owners under a year-old inspections program aimed at fixing decrepit rental homes.
Anaheim city officials created the Quality Rental Housing Program to identify substandard conditions and compel landlords to make repairs and ensure on-going maintenance.
Three full-time code enforcement officers reviewed about 40 percent of the 40,436 units the program team plans to evaluate over a five-year period. Of those reviewed, about 5 percent of the units failed inspections.
Sandra Sagert, the program's director, said most landlords cooperated in making repairs.
Support for LAist comes from
“It’s kind of getting them up and going, ‘Yeah, you know, I meant to do that, so now I’m going to do it,’” she said.
Not all rental properties have to go through the inspection program; buildings 20 years or newer and public housing homes are exempt. (There are separate programs that inspect public housing projects.) As they age, the newer buildings will be included in the inspection program.
Beginning on the city’s west side, code enforcement officials sent a housing packet with a best practices questionnaire to rental property owners asking if they screen tenants, maintain house rules, and do walk-throughs of units.
If the property owner has had no substandard housing violations in the last 12 months, follows the best practices, and passes an exterior inspection of the building, he or she receives a certificate from the city and avoids code enforcement inspections of the units.
Sagert said larger apartment complexes with on-site managers tend to be easy to certify.
“It’s trying to focus in on where we need to be, versus spending time where we don't need to be,” she said.
The rental inspections program will move to the central part of the city for the next phase, which will likely take a year or more to complete.
Support for LAist comes from
Leah Simon-Weisberg with Tenants Together, a fair housing advocacy group in San Francisco, gave Anaheim city officials feedback as they were creating the rental inspection program.
She said the housing shortage in California exacerbates the decaying conditions faced by renters.
“People can’t just move,” she said. “They can’t say, ‘Well, I’m just going to go find another apartment with a better landlord.”
Simon-Weisberg says there’s a growing grassroots effort in cities like Long Beach and San Diego to persuade officials to move away from complaint-driven code enforcement inspections and toward routine checks that happen every four years or so. That way, landlords are more likely to commit to on-going maintenance.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist