Councilors press Detroit building department over rental‑registration shortfall and enforcement plans

Detroit — Council members on the Budget, Finance and Audit Standing Committee pressed the city’s Building Safety, Engineering and Environmental (BC) department on Thursday over what they described as a large shortfall in rental registration and certificate‑of‑compliance counts and on plans to strengthen enforcement.

Council member Renata Miller said the department’s own figures imply “roughly 68,000 properties currently do not have a valid … certificate of compliance,” and she said that gap could represent millions of dollars in missed fee revenue and, more importantly, serious safety risks. “When we fail to have oversight, we lack in our safety for our residents,” Miller told the committee, citing the death of an infant who fell through a floor as a painful example.

BC Director Dave Bell acknowledged the problem and accepted responsibility. “I am not happy about where we are with the rental program and I take full responsibility,” Bell said, adding that the finance office has documented about $7 million currently owed to the city while BC will pursue process improvements and enforcement to increase compliance. Bell said the department plans to partner with a nonprofit for a department‑wide process review and set a target to increase certificates of compliance by 25 to 35 percent over the next year.

Why it matters: Council members framed the issue as both a revenue and a public‑safety problem. Miller and other members repeatedly pressed for raw counts and a clear methodology behind BC’s estimates, arguing that percent‑based projections in the packet did not meet legislative oversight needs.

What BC presented: Bell gave a high‑level overview of BC operations, saying the department employs about 363 people, has a baseline budget of $40.8 million and reported that in 2025 BC conducted more than 261,000 inspections and issued thousands of permits and certificates of compliance. Bell also described initiatives intended to speed permitting — including a permit‑ready plans pilot and same‑day permitting for simple residential and small commercial work — and said BC is upgrading the Acela platform and exploring artificial intelligence to improve intake and inspection workflows.

Council reaction and next steps: Members asked detailed questions about dangerous‑buildings procedures, the role of the law department in nuisance‑abatement cases and whether BC can absorb the Land Bank’s nuisance‑abatement work. Mayor Waters, who addressed the committee, noted recent tenant‑rights and compliance ordinances and asked how two new property‑maintenance FTEs would affect blight inspections and coordination with the law department.

Multiple procedural actions were taken. Council member Scott Benson moved to place the BC budget review into executive session and to add closing‑resolution language emphasizing code enforcement; both motions were approved without objection. Other members successfully moved to add language directing the law department and BC to coordinate on vacant commercial uses, and to include executive‑session discussions and closing‑resolution language focused on education, outreach and more aggressive action against habitual violators.

Key numbers and clarifications: Bell told the committee BC currently estimates about 14 percent compliance with rental registration, and he cited a finance estimate of about $7 million in owed amounts; council members disputed that figure and asked BC to provide the underlying methodology. For the Brightmoor scattered‑homes program BC reported 123 properties, 88 with certificates of compliance and 35 still needing compliance; BC said it is coordinating with Housing and Revitalization Detroit (HRD) and targeting ARPA and CDBG for funding.

What’s next: Bell said the department expects to issue a contract with an outside reviewer before year’s end and that ordinance changes on rental properties are likely after the third‑party review. Several members signaled they will seek stronger fines and other ordinance changes if compliance does not improve.

The committee closed the BC budget hearing and moved to the next departmental presentation.