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Tenants and advocates urge Westminster to add three rental-housing inspectors in 2026 budget
Summary
Multiple public commenters urged council to fund three additional rental housing inspectors in the upcoming budget, citing unsafe conditions and slow complaint response at several apartment complexes; staff said budget questions on resourcing will be discussed at the upcoming budget workshop.
During the council’s public hearing on the proposed 2026 budget, several tenants and advocates urged the city to add three rental-housing inspectors and Spanish-language staff to expand enforcement of rental property standards.
Speakers from tenant groups said they have seen persistent substandard conditions in privately managed apartment complexes and argued that more inspection capacity is needed to hold so-called “bad-actor” corporate landlords accountable. "I'm asking that the budget include 3 more housing inspectors," tenant Carl McGraw told council during the budget hearing. Heather Gates said the city’s rental inspection program had helped her resolve problems but that enforcement is inconsistent: "We need more inspectors to increase enforcement of these bad landlords so that no one goes through what I have."
Staff and the city manager said the budget workshop on September 15 would include a detailed discussion of staffing and resourcing for code enforcement and rental inspection programs. The city manager told council he was “working very closely with all the stakeholders around our rental housing in the city” and that staff were evaluating code updates and internal restructuring to add resources without necessarily adding permanent headcount. City staff noted that specific budget language and resourcing will be finalized in the budget workshop and subsequent budget adoption meetings.
Council members asked staff to provide analysis on how many additional inspectors would be needed at build-out and to return with timelines and cost estimates as part of the budget process. The comments reflect broader regional concerns about childcare, housing affordability and neighborhood maintenance raised in several councilor reports that evening.
Ending: The budget hearing did not produce an immediate change to the draft 2026 budget; councilors and staff agreed to address the inspector staffing question in the forthcoming budget workshop and in the September budget study session.
