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Tenants and organizing groups urge quick implementation of Richmond rental inspection program
Summary
Speakers representing tenant organizations urged the Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee to avoid delaying the rental inspection ordinance, asked for monthly status updates from the administration, and sought safeguards against displacement and certain terminology in the ordinance.
Members of tenant advocacy groups urged the Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee to expedite the city’s rental inspection program and to provide regular updates on ordinance development.
At a public comment period, Rachel Hefner read a statement on behalf of Marquetta Fisher, a Third District resident and member of Virginia Organizing. Fisher thanked the council for support in creating a rental inspection program but warned against adding provisions that the speaker said Virginia law does not allow, such as prohibiting rent increases unless landlords demonstrate investments in their property. She urged Richmond City Council to add support for state-level rent stabilization legislation to the city’s legislative priorities and asked the administration to bring an ordinance to the committee “as soon as possible.”
Benny Gates III, a Ninth District resident, told the committee he supported the inspection program and called for safeguards to prevent displacement. Gates said code enforcement already displaces tenants and that a well-structured inspection program would hold negligent landlords accountable. He urged the council not to use the word “blight” in the ordinance and recommended using the term “deteriorating,” saying the alternate word could create confusion under Virginia code.
Dream Boyd, joining virtually and identifying as a tenant and Virginia Organizing member in the Third District, echoed concerns about ordinance language and process. Boyd advised against making tenant councils a mandatory ordinance requirement, saying such mandatory structures often become formalities and do not produce sustained tenant organizing. Boyd joined other speakers in asking the council to request monthly updates from the administration and to include a deadline for creating inspection districts to avoid implementation delays.
The committee did not take action on the public comments during the period; public testimony was followed later by committee business.
