NEW ORLEANS - City landlords could soon be required to register their rental homes and submit them to regular inspections. The measure is being proposed by City Councilmember Latoya Cantrell..
On Wednesday, dozens of people showed up to City Hall for the first public hearing on the issue, split mostly into two camps.
"I use to live in this apartment in the French Quarter and started having health problems related to the black mold the apartment was invested with," said Della Wright with the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies.
Wright sharing one nurse's experiencing living in deplorable conditions. One of many stories heard inside council chambers highlighting issues of substandard rental properties that Cantrell hopes to change. She is proposing creating a rental registry, where. by law. landlords would have to sign up and have their properties periodically inspected.
The stated goal is to counter public health issues documented on Facebook pages and websites like rentinginneworleans.
According to the last American Housing Survey conducted in 2011, 49,000 or roughly 78 percent of rental units in New Orleans needed major repairs at some point in the previous year. That same survey also showed: 1,770 units had mold; 5,450 units did not have a working smoke detector and 7,150 units had signs of rodents.
"Anyone who has rented in this city would know there's not a lot of options if there are problems. There's got to be something on the books that helps every renter," said Andreanecia Morris with the Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance.
The coalition is a strong advocate of affordable housing and says better rental regulation and enforcement is long overdue in New Orleans.
"Renters in this city need to know how this is going to help them move to a better life and the landlords also need to understand how it's going to help them," said Morris.
Cantrell initially planned to introduce a rental registry ordinance on Wednesday, but now more specific legislation is being drafted.
The public instead got the chance to weigh in for the first time at City Hall. Tenants and housing advocates were mostly in support of the new legislation. While many landlords said code enforcement is already in place, questioning the need for any new laws.
"It seems like a huge waste of resources and time and finance to approach the ones that are doing a good job. The ones you don't have the complaints on," said a property owner at the committee meeting.
"I believe the rental proposal is a very serious constitutional issue. It has been tested in other places and found unconstitutional," said property owner, Pat O'Brien.
No word on when City Council officials are expected to draft and introduce that rental registry ordinance. Any landlord or tenant wanting to weigh-in on the proposed legislation is urged to contact their City Council representative directly.
