Several city councilmembers are urging the implementation of a law requiring the housing agency to inspect vacant apartments after complaints from residents. The measure, passed in December 2023, allows 311 complaints about issues like rats and leaks, prompting inspections of unoccupied units. However, City departments have not yet implemented the required complaint tool. Councilmembers emphasized the importance of this law for public safety and criticized delays as harmful. The housing agency is supposed to inspect reported units within three weeks to address hazards impacting residents.
Under the law, the housing agency is supposed to contact the property owner after receiving a complaint and schedule an inspection within three weeks.
Gutiérrez said the vacant apartments can create nightmares for tenants in neighboring units, as rats, birds and human intruders enter open or unlocked windows and leaking pipes flood downstairs apartments or lead to dangerous mold blooms.
Ensuring residents can report hazardous conditions in their buildings is a core public safety function and should not be deprioritized for the sake of administrative efficiency.
The delay undermines the purpose of the law: to give residents a clear, accessible way to report unoccupied units that threaten the health and safety of their buildings.
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