New Proactive Rental Regime Begins in OWD

 A little over a month ago the City of Durham rolled out a new Proactive Rental Inspection Program (PRIP), designed to "proactively identify and remediate rental housing that does not meet the [code and related ordinances]. This program is the implementation of the March 5 resolution of the City Council enacting the PRIP ordinance. As described more fully in a previous post, this represents a significant change in the way the City investigates and enforces violations of the housing code in rental properties.
 

The city has designated several "priority zones," including a significant portion of the OWD and Trinity Park neighborhoods (see map below) in which all rental property owners will undergo periodic inspections to ensure compliance with Durham's Minimal Housing Code. Furthermore, landlords whose property registered three or more housing code violations in the past 12-month period will be required to register their property with the Department of Neighborhood Improvement Services (DIS). 

The trigger for proactive (i.e. unprompted) inspections will be something called "Reasonable Cause", defined as (1) a history of 3 or more violations in 12 months; (2) a complain has been received; (3) there is knowledge of unsafe conditions, or (4) violations of the code are visible from the outside of the property. Both single-family and multifamily buildings will be targeted, with penalties as high as $300 a month, and a maximum penalty of $5,000 for failure to register properties found to have more than 3 code enforcement violations.

This program is long overdue, particularly in the neighborhood like ours, where upward of 50% of all properties are rentals. While most neighborhood landlords have been diligent and conscientious in up-keeping their properties, a few bad apples have cropped up here and there.

Although this program is a great start, several areas for improvement immediately jump to mind:

1. Increase the maximum penalty - given potentially significant costs of repair, some proverbial "slum-lords" may make an economic calculation that it is simply cheaper to pay a $5,000 fine rather than fix up their dilapidated eye sore of a building. To change this calculus, DIS should have the power to fine $5,000 per violation. 
2. Create a publicly searchable database of all properties found to to have three or more code violations in a year, including the fines levied and the business address and telephone number of the registered owner. 

Still, this a step in the right direction, and I hope with time, the program will be revised and strengthened to improve the overall appearance and safety of our neighborhood. The full scope of the program is described in greater detail after the break.

Why are urban neighborhoods are the future of housing

A pair of interesting articles on Salon and Atlantic Cities examine the long-term demographic shifts that are increasingly favoring smaller, walkable, and urban neighborhoods like ours over the dominant housing style of the the previous half century - the suburban development. The authors point to a great convergence of two large demographic groups - the Baby Boomers (1946-1964) and the Millennials (1981-2000) both of which are increasingly interested in communities that are easily accessible and pedestrian friendly.

While the Baby Boomers are downsizing and seeking smaller houses with less upkeep and closer to community centers, hospitals, restaurants, and parks, the Milleanials are outright rejecting their parents' suburban lifestyles in favor of higher density neighborhoods. This is evidenced by surveys showing that Americans are driving fewer miles and that fewer young drivers are getting drivers' licenses. Even more striking is the fact that  46% of drivers aged 18-24 said they would choose internet access over owning a car.

While it may be premature to celebrate the end of American's love affair with the car -- and surely some of the conclusions are due to the terrible economy and its disproportionate impact on young people -- the long-term trends are unmistakable: the demand for urban, walkable neighborhoods is going to far outstrip the supply for many years to come.

The graph below demonstrates this better than I can the representation of demand for transit-oriented development via-a-vis the supply. 

This data is further confirmed by the 2011 Community Preference Survey by the National Association of Realtor's, which indicated that 58% of all responds indicated a preference for "a neighborhood with a mix of houses and stores and other businesses within an easy walk."

All of this suggests a continued, strong interest in urban real estate but it also raises a question: will the pent-up demand translate into higher real-estate prices or more rentors. After all, the other great story about this recession has been the rise of rental housing nationwide, including the Triangle, which hit the highest occupancy rate of rental properties in a decade.

Although I am personally ambivalent on rent vs. own debate, the folks at Trulia Trends have devised a really neat tool which shows in which metro area it is cheaper to buy a home rather than rent. Not surprisingly, in our region it is still more affordable to buy than it is to rent. 

City Council Approves New Rental Regime

 

The City Council has finally approved a new proactive rental inspection regime designed to reduce the incidence of non-compliance with code regulations by rented properties in central Durham. According to the map (below), most of the downtown area is covered. As I said previously, this program is good for the city as a whole and for our neighborhood in particular, given that almost 50% of all houses in this area rentals. The move to impose regular rental inspections rather than simply responding to complains is likely to improve appearance of the neighborhood rental properties and make it more difficult for the so-called "slumlords" to systematically undermine city regulations.




The Harald Sun article providing further context for this story is reprinted after the break.

New Rental Inspection Regime Portends Good News for our Neighborhood

Old West Durham has a lot of things going for it: location, diversity along both socioeconomic and racial lines, strong neighborhood organization, vibrant urban infrastructure, Ninth Street Shopping District, etc. Most of these traits are uncontroversially positive. But another important feature of this neighborhood -- high prevalence of rental housing, which by by some estimates is as high as 50% -- is more debatable. Some would argue (and I include myself in this group) that rental housing that is well maintained and managed brings vitality and new blood to the neighborhood, which is a good thing. Some recent research studies back-up this conclusion, at least insofar as high-density urban housing is concerned. Still others may argue that high proportion of rental housing depresses housing values, reduces the neighbors' stake in the longevity of their neighborhood and increase crime.

Regardless where you stand on this issue, the new rental inspection proposal currently considered by the City Council is unquestionably a positive development.  The "Probative Inspection Program" will switch housing-code inspections of rental property "to proactively identify rental housing that does not meet [housing code]" by introducing proactive inspections instead of the past practice of inspecting properties only if someone complains. The new regiment will institute period inspections of all properties where "there is a probable cause to believe that unsafe, unsanitary or otherwise hazardous or unlawful conditions may exist at a residential building or structure."

Take a look at the proposal here.