Reforming Austin's Repeat Offender Program: Ensuring Fairness for Renters and Property Owners
The Austin American-Statesmen recently published a thorough story on the City of Austin’s Repeat Offender Program, highlighting the history of the program and the current realities.
The article featured statements from the Austin Code Department, Code Inspectors, City Council Member Chito Vela, Austin Apartment Association Past President Lyndsay Hanes and AAA Executive Vice President Emily Blair.
It provides a balanced analysis of the program and clearly demonstrates the need for reform.
While Inspector Reynoldo Cruz noted that some properties are not communicating or diligently addressing code violations, this is not the case for many properties currently on the list. Many properties are doing the best they can, especially older properties that require more upkeep.
As it stands, the Repeat Offender Program is not effectively serving either Austin renters or property owners. Holding properties accountable for health and safety violations is crucial, but the program needs changes to ensure fairness for both residents and property managers.
Lyndsay Hanes highlighted the need for communication reform citing an incident where she took over a property and immediately began attempting to contact Austin Code to address the open violations. Instead, she received 70 violations two days later. The violations were mostly cosmetic in nature and did not threaten residents' health and safety.
Executive Vice President Emily Blair spoke to the Austin Apartment Association’s advocacy efforts to amend the program to differentiate the severity of code infractions and create criteria that account for the size of a complex.
Despite the ongoing litigation, certain improvements can be made to the program without amending the ordinance. These include:
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Allowing the opportunity for properties to correct any warning or violation within a certain time period before posting the issue as a violation.
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Enhancing communication policies with tenants to ensure residents understand their responsibility to report maintenance issues to management or the owner.
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Clarifying the procedures associated with drop-in or periodic inspections to align with the ROP’s complaint-driven nature and eliminating door-to-door resident inquiries aimed at finding code violations that have not been reported to property management.
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Remove the owner/manager penalty for residents' refusal or non-compliance with necessary repairs.
When it becomes possible to amend the ordinance, the city should reaffirm the original intent: to “protect the health and safety of rental unit dwellers in Austin.” This means only considering health and safety code violations when determining placement on the Repeat Offender Program.
We appreciate the renewed focus on the Repeat Offender Program by the media and city council and look forward to working with the city to amend the program to ensure that residents are comfortable in their homes and properties are being fairly held accountable.