Houston Council Will Consider Stricter Apartment Inspection Process

Houston City Councilmember Letitia Plummer "is workshopping an inspection reform proposal to target dangerous or below-standard apartment conditions" after witnessing "deplorable conditions" in Houston rental properties, writes Jen Rice.

"Under Plummer’s proposal, all multi-family property owners who don’t make repairs requested by tenants and the city will be charged a $250 annual fee until all issues are resolved," with the proceeds funding the hiring of more inspectors. "The proposal stems from two amendments to the city's 2022 budget Plummer tried to pass in June," which were referred to a council committee "for further discussion" by the city's mayor in June. Of Houston's 427,000 occupied rental units, 32 percent are classified as Class C–"older properties in fair or worse shape, in need of maintenance"–while 10 percent of those units, inhabited by over 100,000 people, are classified as Class D, having the oldest and worst conditions.

With apartment inspections currently spread out over four city departments–"the health department, fire department, police department, and public works department"–the "reform proposed by Plummer would aim to improve coordination between departments by developing new risk-assessment profiles for multifamily properties, increasing the number of inspections and creating a method of sharing data across agencies."