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Supporters urge council to act on rental registration, inspection and licensing after advisory ballot approval
Summary
Organizers of a ballot question advocating proactive rental registration and rotating inspections described a grading-and-fee structure and said voters approved the measure by more than 60 percent; the council did not take action at the meeting.
Speakers representing a citizen initiative briefed the Quincy City Council about a ballot measure that asked voters whether they favor a registration, inspection and licensing enactment for rental housing, and described how the measure's inspection and fee structure would work if adopted.
Brennan Hills, co-founder of the citizen group that placed the question on the April 1 ballot, told the council the ballot question was nonbinding and that the group collected more than 1,600 petition signatures to place it before voters. "We were pleased to find that over 4,000 people voted in favor of this proposal. Over 60% of voters who decided to come out and vote voted in favor," Hills said.
Hills described the proposal's inspection approach as proactive, replacing tenant-complaint-driven inspections with rotating inspections of all registered rental properties. After inspection, properties would receive a letter grade A through D tied to the number of violations and a recurring fee schedule the presenter described as follows: A (0 violations) ' $100 every three years; B (1'3 violations) ' $100 every two years; C (3'10 violations) ' $100 every year; D (more than 10 violations) ' $100 every six months. Hills said the proposal intended the fees to be collected at the stated frequencies and directed listeners to q-rial.org for more details.
Hills urged the council to review letters of support his group had gathered from community organizations, which he said included health-care providers, schools and churches, and to act on the nonbinding vote. He also emphasized the rationale that tenant-complaint-only enforcement can deter renters from reporting problems because of fear of landlord retaliation.
The council did not take legislative action on the matter during the meeting; the presentation appeared as part of the public-comment period.
