DETROIT (WXYZ) — Mayor Mary Sheffield unveiled a new initiative to bring thousands more rental homes up to code, with targeted support for smaller landlords.
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Detroit is launching a new plan to expand rental housing compliance across the city, with a goal of reaching 25% compliance within one year.
Mayor Mary Sheffield announced the initiative today at Peterson Park on Greenfield.
Earlier this year, Sheffield took stock of compliance in the city's senior buildings, finding only 41 out of 111 were up to code. She challenged her team in January to raise that number to 65.
"Earlier this year we took a hard look at our senior buildings... at the time only 41 out of 111 senior buildings in compliance," Sheffield said.
That goal was not only reached but surpassed.
"86 senior buildings out of 111 are now in compliance and 32-percent more than our original goal," Sheffield said.
With that momentum, Sheffield turned her focus to 1-2 family rental units, gathering supporters at Peterson Park to announce a new compliance push.
"There are approximately 81k rental properties across Detroit and only about 14 percent of those rental properties are in compliance, and we know that is unacceptable," Sheffield said.
The 5-step plan includes creating a master enforcement list, better compliance tracking, support for smaller and less experienced landlords, a focus on communication and education, and inspectors assigned by area.
One of those inspectors, Dennis Perkins, said the goal is guidance over punishment.
"It's not a thing of enforcement we enforce when necessary, but we'd rather educate... walk them through the process and maintain that overall goal of compliance," Perkins said.
When asked whether patience with non-compliant landlords would eventually run out, Sheffield was direct.
"We're going to have landlords who don't want to get with the program... and when we have those situations we're going to involve the law department, and we're gonna take whatever legal steps necessary to get compliance," Sheffield said.
Some landlords who attended the announcement spoke about the city's support on their road to compliance.
"They've been nothing close to spectacular... any time I've needed guidance, I've now purchased properties in the city of Detroit and worked toward bringing them up," one landlord said.
"We are determined to follow that step by step and get it done... because this is a beautiful city and we want to honor and support the mayor's initiatives," another landlord said.
The city hopes more landlords will take advantage of the available help, bringing more Detroit renters into safer, code-compliant homes.
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