Houston May Revive Long-Dormant Committee to Investigate Substandard Apartments

The Houston City Council will vote on an ordinance that could revive its Apartment Standards Enforcement Committee (ASEC), which has been largely dormant since it was created in 2013. 

According to an explainer by John Brannen and Jacob Carpenter in Urban Edge, “As originally designed, its 12 members are supposed to set guidelines for responding to “substandard and dangerous” apartment complexes, document credible allegations of mismanagement, track the city’s response to safety issues and ensure landlords comply with orders to improve conditions.” However, the committee has only met “one or two times, in part because it lacked clear leadership.” Yet Houston’s 311 helpline recorded 18,000 calls about poor living conditions in multifamily housing between 2020 and 2024.

If a proposed ordinance passes, the committee would get a structure for identifying which landlords and properties to target based on 311 complaints. “The committee also would get clearer leadership, with Houston Public Works and the Houston Health Department running point.” The ordinance would also add a landlord and a tenant representative to the committee.