May 8 and the Center for Community Progress assessed the city’s approach to housing and building code enforcement and offered a series of recommendations to make the system more equitable and effective at preserving affordable privately owned housing and encouraging reuse of vacant properties.
Recommendations include decreasing reliance on criminal misdemeanors to encourage owners to maintain their properties, improving data collection and analysis, creating a decision-making matrix to ensure consistent use of potential tools, and adopting equitable safeguards for poor owners.
See presentation to City Council and local news coverage.