Iowa City senior housing inspector outlines inspection workload, unlicensed-unit detection and impending smoke-alarm checks

Stan Loberman, the City of Iowa City's senior housing inspector, told the Housing & Community Development Commission that the inspection office handles roughly 2,500 complaints a year and oversees five systematic rental inspectors plus two dedicated code-enforcement inspectors and a scheduler.

"We deal with over 2,500 complaints a year in the city related to, currently, we're dealing with snow on sidewalks, tall grass and weeds," Loberman said, describing complaints as largely public-generated and processed through the city's complaint system.

Loberman gave inventory figures for the city's rental stock, saying the city is "currently sitting at over 20,000 rental units" encompassing about 41,387 bedrooms and reporting roughly 4,474 rental licenses. He clarified the city licenses structures rather than individual landlords: "We license the structure. We don't technically license the landlord," he said.

During a question-and-answer exchange, Loberman said typical multifamily-unit inspections can take "5 minutes to 15 minutes" when a unit is clean, but inspections are slower when inspectors must navigate cluttered living spaces or deferred maintenance. He warned that some checklist items will require additional work in coming years: smoke alarms installed under a 2008 requirement have a 10-year useful life, and Loberman said the office will begin verifying bedroom smoke alarms on its cycle in 2028.

The inspector discussed compliance and violations: "I think we get through at least half of them that, we are dealing with property managers and owners that understand what we're looking for," he said, but noted new program additions such as radon testing previously raised violation counts because they introduced new, district-wide requirements.

Loberman described the department's approach to finding unlicensed units: staff use utility records and cross-checks against tax records to identify discrepancies, and planned data comparisons were on a back-burner until newer inspectors finish training. He also summarized short-term rental registration under recent state direction: the city is registering short-term rentals to collect safety information but cannot charge an additional permit fee because of state restrictions.

On mobile homes, Loberman said regulatory tools are limited when ownership is structured by contract-sale: "Mobile home park owners have a very strong presence at the state level," he said, adding that state preemption and existing law make some local changes difficult. He urged collaboration with nonprofits and county-level partners where local authority is constrained.

Loberman closed by describing complaint reporting options (the city's "report a concern" form, ICgovXPRESS, direct phone numbers and anonymous complaints), and offered to meet with community groups to discuss inspection concerns.

The commission thanked Loberman for outreach and information about the inspection program. No formal action or code changes were taken at the meeting; the presentation informed commissioners about staffing, inspection cycles and enforcement limits as background for future policy discussions.