Richmond officials, tenants and advocates press for proactive rental inspection program

Members of the public told the Richmond City Council Land Use, Housing and Transportation Standing Committee on April 22 that poor maintenance in rental housing is harming residents’ health and safety and urged the city to implement a proactive rental-inspection program.

The committee heard several personal accounts of unsafe living conditions and then a detailed staff presentation on how a city program would work. Kim Jevong, director of Planning and Development Review, told the committee the proposal is “explicitly and narrowly defined by Code of Virginia” and would let the city create one or more rental inspection districts where building officials, or their designees, could conduct proactive inspections of residential rental dwelling units.

The proposal would not replace complaint-driven inspections, Jevong said: “Just because we inspect and you pass does not negate the ability of the commissioner of buildings to respond to tenant or citizen complaints.” She outlined program mechanics that staff have drafted to mirror state law, including sample-based inspections for larger complexes and a limited exemption window for newly compliant units.

Public commenters described conditions they said motivated the request for a proactive program. Ken Turner, a member of Richmond Chapel of Virginia Organizing, said…