Order for a hearing to discuss the impact of inequitable housing code enforcement and Boston's proactive rental inspection program.
05870587 counsel as Lara and Fernandes, Sanderson offered the following order for a hearing to discuss the impact of inequitable housing code enforcement. In Boston's proactive rental inspection program. Thank you, Mr. Clarke. The Chair recognizes counsel. Our counsel over at U of the floor. Thank you, President Flynn. And thank you to Counselor Fernandez Anderson for co-sponsoring this matter with me. We all know that asthma is a chronic respiratory disease that's responsible for about 1.8 million annual emergency department visits in the U.S.. It's also the leading cause of childhood morbidity. It is a preexisting condition that we have seen exacerbate COVID 19, increasing the risk of hospitalization and death disproportionately for black and brown people in the city of Boston. And housing has been shown and housing quality in particular has been shown to be critical determinants of asthma, particularly for children with more. Excuse me. With more than 44% of the risk of childhood asthma diagnosis being attributed to exposure at home. In 2013, the city of Boston passed the Proactive Rental Inspection Ordinance, which implemented a proactive rental inspection program that requires owners of all nonexempt units to undergo inspection every five years. Last month, Harvard released a ten year study of our housing code enforcement, specifically for reported asthma triggers, which showed a 17% longer median response time, 14% higher probability of cases being overdue, and a 54.4% lower probability of repair in neighborhoods that have the lowest proportion of white residents in the city. We know that renters typically are slow to report this type of incident for fear of retaliation. And so we can expect that the number of people that are living in private rental units and are being exposed to asthma triggers are much more significant than what we see here. I believe that there's really an urgent need to strengthen code enforcement systems and programs like Breathe Easy at Home and the proactive rental inspection program if we want to protect the health and safety of our tenants, particularly in the city's most marginalized communities. As the chair of the Committee on Housing and Community Development, I'm committing to ensuring that our constituents not only have access to ample affordable housing, but that the places that they call home are also safe and healthy. I'm calling this hearing because our current interventions have proven to be plagued by the same systemic racism that we see in all of our city agencies. And I think that a policy failure is going to require a policy solution, and I hope that we can get to one here. Thank you, President, for. Thank you. Thank you, counsel. Lara. Um. The chair recognizes Counselor Fernandez Anderson. Counsel Fernandez Anderson, you have the floor. Thank you. Counsel President. Thank you, counselor, for for inviting me and ask and inviting me to partner with you in this. So I guess, just to reiterate not what, which, what hasn't been said, right? So you put that so eloquently. In short, I think if you live in a predominantly black neighborhood because of the intersection between like, you know, systemic racism and class inequality, that neighborhood is more likely to be poor working class. So then obviously predominantly white neighborhoods than they are predominately white neighborhood counterpart. And I think because of this, to reiterate the example documented here, though, we could just as easily discuss other examples. Obviously asthma and other conditions that come with lack of inspections in in these communities obviously impact the communities disproportionately in a negative way. So thank you again and I look forward to hearing with you. Thanks. Thank you. Counsel Fernandez innocent. Is anyone else looking to speak on this matter? The chair recognizes Constitution. Constitution? You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. I rise in support of this talk. But also to say that one of the reasons why it's incredibly important to have is doing inspections is because people are so afraid already to withhold rent when it is their right, when they're not being provided an apartment. That is up to standards. We see it time and time again. People are paying for for apartments that are not quality. Right. But they feel like if they don't pay the rent, even though they're not getting heat or even though they're, you know, living in subpar conditions, that they're still required to pay rent. When they're not they are required. They are able to withhold rent. And the more we get ESD out there to inspect the apartments, the more people will feel empowered that they can actually withhold that rent that they can. And so I think it's important that we have see out there also so that our neighborhoods, our people in our neighborhoods feel like they can take ownership, even if they're just renting. What's coming out of their pocket and what's coming out of their pocket meets the value of what they're getting. So just right in support. And I think this is a really important conversation. Thank you. Thank you. Counsel. Again, the chair recognizes counsel role council. Will you have the floor? Thank you, President Flynn. And thank you to the Makers counsel Laura and Anderson Hirono to point to some staggering data around preparing items that are health hazards have received pictures of unhealthy living living situation from rodents, cockroaches and mold. As a city, I believe that we should be looking towards a more proactive enforcement does not that does that rely on tenant reports? For example, in 2003, the Greensboro City Council enacted their own certificate of occupancy ordinance and required mandatory inspections for essentially all rental housing. And after they enacted their ordinance, they saw that code violations dropped by 77% in eight years and that the city was able to bring more than 8700 properties up to a minimum minimum standard over the course of four years. I'm looking forward to working with the makers of ESD to ensure that the resources that we are able to enforce and strengthen the policies on inspection repair. Thank you. Thank you. And you want your name? Absolutely. The chair recognizes counselor Brad and counsel Brad and U of the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. I also want to thank the makers for this very important hearing order. And it also dovetails very nicely with some work our office has been doing on the issue of scofflaw landlords who do not keep their properties up to code and deferred maintenance and etc. without. And usually the code enforcement finds is just a cost of doing business. So we're working on that. The other issue that we are addressing in this context with regard to that issue is looking at the capacity of our Inspectional Services Department and making sure that they have the technology to actually be more effective in enforcing the codes . And and my understanding is being that, you know, they have been using basically a paper and pencil and paper, a pen and a paper approach, and that they do that the addition of added technology such as iPads, so they can do a field report in the field and have photographs and log. The conditions will expedite and be much more effective in enforcement. So always with any of these questions, I echo your concerns. Mr. President, we when we bring in new rules, new mandates, it's really important to ensure that our Inspection Services Department is equipped and has the it has the appropriate level of personnel to be able to be an effective enforcers of the code. So thank you so much. Thank you, counsel. And please have my name tag incarcerated. The chair recognizes. Counsel me here. Counsel, I'm here. So thank you, Mr. President. So I just want to rise and support and thank the leadership of the Housing Committee for spearheading this council a lot of for your and relentless leadership and all things that deal with housing. I really do appreciate and love how you lead in this space as well as council. Fernandez Anderson I'm really looking forward to the work and not only just having the conversation but really putting in the systems that are going to help support your vision. So please add my name. Thank you. Thank you. Counsel me here. Anyone else like to speak or add their name? I will. I will. I want to say thank you to the makers of this important hearing. I also want to highlight what counsel were all mentioned. The important role pest control plays in healthy living in apartments especially. But they contribute significantly to a decline in our public health our our our health for our children. So dealing with pest control is also a critical role. I know several of my councilors have mentioned that, but that's an important and important subject. And I just want to thank all the councils for the important work they're doing on this. If you'd like to add if you'd like to add your name, please raise your hand. Mr. Clarke, please add Councilor Arroyo. Councilor. Councilor Braden Councilor Fire Council, whose own council may hear Councilor Murphy Council roll. Please add the chair. Docket 0587 will be assigned to the Committee on City Services, Innovation Technology. Mr. Clarke, please read Docket. 05880588 counsel as Lara. Amanda Sanderson offered the following in order for a hearing to discuss the Malcolm X Park renovation.