Kansas City councilman Dan Fowler made headlines last year when he was able to get an apartment building shut down because of health conditions. Now Fowler wants to help clean up problem areas in rural Platte County.
Fowler by trade is an attorney and he also happens to be the city attorney for the City of Dearborn. At a meeting of the town’s board of aldermen last Tuesday, Aug. 18, Fowler presented KCMO’s Healthy Homes ordinance to the board in hopes of getting the city on board with a similar program.
The Healthy Homes KC ordinance establishes a program that is funded by the owners of rental properties in the city. The cost is $20 per unit, per year to establish the program.
The program pays for an initial inspection of a property that has been reported as having a health hazard. If inspectors determine the issue to be life-threatening the property owner has 24 hours to rectify the situation. If the issue is determined to be a health hazard but not life-threatening the property owner is given five days to fix the issue. Another inspection is done five days later at a cost of $150 to the property owner and they are given another five days if the problem still exists. A third inspection also costs $150 and the property is ordered vacated if not fixed.
Dan Fowler
Fowler said the city doesn’t inspect every apartment in town because that would not be practical. Instead the program relies on complaints. Most of the complaints come from renters but occasionally the property owner will call.
Fowler said the program is completely anonymous and that anyone who suspects there’s an issue can complain. Dearborn officials questioned whether or not the city would have legal authority to enter a home they’re not invited to.
“The filing of a complaint invites the inspector in,” Fowler said. Fowler added that if city officials were invited into a home today their code would allow them to do “very little” to rectify the situation.
“This is a no-tell deal,” Fowler said about the person who files the complaint. “(The inspectors) are the witnesses that find the unacceptable conditions.”
City officials also had questions about costs and how they will know how much they need to spend in any given year on the program. Fowler said the board can anticipate how much of the program will be used.
“You probably all have some idea as to who’s got bad apartments and may have an issue,” Fowler said.
Board members also had questions about what if a property owner denies entry and what if they don’t pay for further inspections. Fowler said it could be added to the property taxes. Fowler said a property owner has to let them in.
“We’ll pull the permit and shut it down,” Fowler said.“So far we haven’t had anybody not pay it.”
Fowler said the city of Moberly has had an ordinance for nearly 20 years and it has withstood court challenges. He said he recently spoke with the town’s city attorney and was told they’re having no issues.
Board member Don Kerns had some concerns about the issue and pointed to a checklist inspectors use when going through a rental property. Kerns said some things on the list are so vague that anyone could see it differently than another person.
“That could always fail,” Kerns said pointing to an item on the checklist about hot water. “There’s a whole bunch of things here that are subjective and you could use it to hassle somebody.”
Kerns said he thinks the city’s dangerous building ordinance can take care of a lot of the problems the city is trying to fix with the new ordinance.
Fowler said the checklist is just a reminder to the inspector to check things. He said it’s not a hard copy of violations.
“It doesn’t tell you how many cockroaches in a house is too many,” Fowler said.
Alderman Cory Hott said if the city doesn’t have a code, any ordinance the city passes won’t have teeth. He suggested the city also adopt a universal code.
“We have nothing on paper,” Hott said. “We can say your building is dangerous but if we don’t have code, how do we prove your building is dangerous?”
Fowler is also trying to get the city of Edgerton to adopt a similar ordinance. It’s a subject he takes personally and is proud of the fact he was the main complainant that shut down the property at Englewood Road and Waukomis last year.
“Sorry I’m getting wound up about this but these people are taking federal money and their tenants’ money and letting them live in the most abject squalor you have ever heard of in your life,” Fowler said after getting a little worked up answering questions about the plan.
Part of the ordinance requires the city to move someone to a safe location until the property is fixed. The costs are then charged back to the property owner. Some board members were concerned about the kind of costs the city could rack up. Fowler said part of the Healthy Homes’ fee is to establish a fund for that situation. Fowler said there’s always a cost but what is the cost of doing nothing?
“There’s a cost all the way around but on the other hand what’s the cost?” Fowler said.