The Portland Tenant’s Union urged the city council on Monday to create a housing safety department to hold landlords accountable for unsafe living conditions inside city apartments.
Grace Damon, co-chair of the tenant’s union, and Justin Irish, a survivor of a fire at 20 Noyes St. that killed six people in November 2014, called for the city to take action against landlords who ignore tenant complaints or do not keep apartments up to code.
“We not only need more proactive housing inspections, but we need more thorough housing inspections,” Damon said. “We don’t want to see anyone else pass away.”
More recently in April, Donald Stain, 53, fell to his death from a second-story porch at his apartment at 563 Cumberland Ave., when the railing he was leaning on gave way, prompting a renewed call for a more proactive inspection program for rental units.
The city’s budget, which is scheduled to be voted on Monday evening, includes provisions for about $335,000 to fund the safety office, reduced from an initally planned $600,000. The funding would be raised through a $35 per unit fee on landlords.
The department would have three building inspectors trained in both fire and building code enforcement. The fee system would also help create a more complete database of landlords, helping the city to track which buildings have been examined.
If the department is created, the first buildings to be inspected would be those already identified as higher risk properties, City spokeswoman Jessica Grondin said.
Staff Writer Matt Byrne can be reached at 791-6303, or at:
Twitter: MattByrnePPH
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