GREENFIELD — In an effort to ensure that the city’s landlords maintain health and safety standards for their tenants, At-Large City Councilor John Garrett has proposed an ordinance that, if passed, will require landlords to register their units.
The idea for the ordinance, Garrett said in an interview, was inspired by a citywide housing count led by At-Large City Councilor Sara Brown, Housing Greenfield Coordinator Susan Worgaftik, and Community and Economic Development Director Amy Cahillane.
“They went around and they counted all the apartments in the city. There’s been a longtime issue with not knowing, for the purpose of assessment, how many units are in buildings. … Units that used to be a two-family house got divided into three, four or five really small units,” Garrett explained.
Garrett added that one of the most common and, in his opinion, most reasonable concerns expressed by the public when he advocates for housing development is the fear that corporate landlords and investment firms will buy out a large portion of the city’s properties and build slums.
“We have slumlords that get away with abusing people in the city,” he said. “This is an attempt to basically close the gaps that allow them to continue operating with impunity.”
Under the proposed ordinance, landlords who own more than six housing units in the city must have those residences inspected by the Health Department every five years. Additionally, landlords must pay $15 to register their units with the city.
Garrett added that landlords will have 90 days to fix any issues that arise as the result of an inspection and will be able to appeal an inspection they find to be erroneous with the Board of Health. He clarified that the ordinance does not intend to punish small, responsible landlords.
“I try to be as generous as possible so folks who are not a giant landlord don’t get destroyed financially for making repairs,” Garrett said. “It’s addressing the real concerns of people about additional housing becoming another tool for exploitation. To me, it’s the other side of the coin. We need to build the housing units, to lower the price of them and to make it so people can afford a home. People also have a right to live in dignity.”
Garrett presented the proposed rental registry to the Appointments and Ordinances Committee Thursday night, bringing Chief Assessor Christina Summers with him to answer any questions.
Precinct 1 City Councilor Katherine Golub, who chairs the Appointments and Ordinances Committee, requested that any health code violation fees that may be charged to landlords be added to their property tax bills — a practice that Summers said is followed for other fees in the city and could possibly be applied to the rental registry as well.
“There’s a fee associated with those income and expense reports that we send out every year. If residents don’t return them, we do charge them a fee of $250 and it does go on their tax bill,” Summers said. “The fee thing is not as difficult as you would imagine, if we have the power and authority and the ordinance [passes City Council].”
Garrett said he has been in communication with landlords on the proposed issue, and has received varying levels of support, with one duplex owner expressing support and other landlords generally seeing the ordinance as fair. He encourages members of the public who have questions about the proposed ordinance to call him at 413-203-9453.
“I do want to congratulate Mr. Garrett. This is a huge, momentous effort. I think it will really benefit a lot of things, and it’s really well-written,” Summers said. “I really appreciate all of your help and I think this will be a benefit to the city overall, in many different areas.”