OneMECK Position Paper – Charlotte Needs Stronger Housing Code Enforcement

 Distributed to City Council and Media on 12/5/2024

Summary – the Moral Imperative

OneMECK and ActionNC, two long-standing advocacy teams in Charlotte, ask that the City implement stronger housing code enforcement to help families living in deteriorated housing.  Too many families live in rental units with serious code violations affecting both their quality of life as well as their health. Complaints can give rise to landlord retaliation and potential displacement.  In some instances, owners allow buildings to deteriorate but continue to collect rent, then a new owner comes in and displaces all residents. 

Background

An analysis of housing code violations that were opened within the last 2 years shows that, as of 11/18/2024, there were 916 open housing code violation inspection reports:

  • 360 of these violations have remained open for more than 6 months. Owners are not being sufficiently responsive and residents are being forced to live in deteriorating dwellings.
  • Each housing code violation is associated with a parcel of land, and 12 parcels have 11 or more open housing code violation reports. Buildings that have multiple violations are often deteriorated, with residents living in substandard conditions and owners abusing the system.

Charlotte should adopt a strong housing code enforcement policy to empower the Code Enforcement Division to step in when landlords fail to obey city repair orders.  The lack of enforcement at Lamplighter Inn, Tanglewood, Lake Arbor, and other residences has left many families living in unsafe and unhealthy conditions for years, with residents ultimately displaced.  This could have been prevented.  The housing code ALREADY allows the city to enforce its repair orders with two stronger remedies that are not being utilized.

The code authorizes the city council to direct the city attorney to sue the owner for an injunction to compel the landlord to make urgent repairs. 

  • Code inspectors often give owners 48-hour deadlines to repair imminently dangerous conditions such as inoperable heat in the winter, inoperable toilets or bathing facilities, and dangerous wiring.
  • If landlords fail to obey such orders, the staff should then ask the city council to direct the city attorney to seek immediate injunctive relief to compel the owner to remedy the problem.

The code also authorizes the city council to use its in rem repair remedy to accomplish other important repairs that may not be imminently dangerous, such as roof leaks or plumbing leaks that may cause toxic mold and structural damage, inoperable locks, holes in flooring and walls, broken windows, and other serious code violations:

  • City council should require the staff to report cases where final repair orders have gone more than 30 days past the date when repairs were required to be finished.
  • The council should select appropriate cases for adoption of an ordinance directing the chief code officer to seek bids from construction contractors to repair the violations. This work can be done without displacing the tenants, for example, through temporary relocation when extensive work is required
  • Once the work is completed, the city can present the bill to the owner for payment.
  • If the owner fails to pay, the city can place a lien on the property to enforce collection, and ultimately take possession through foreclosure if the owner fails to reimburse. Once the city has title to the property it can sell it to a responsible housing provider who can maintain it as part of the community’s affordable housing inventory.

Call To Action

We implore City Council to take action to help families living in deteriorated housing.  As a first step, City Council should direct the Code Enforcement Division to develop a strong enforcement policy as outlined above and identify funding and resources needed to put this policy into effect.