Mayor Duggan and Council Member Mary Waters propose changes to city’s rental ordinance to ensure more safe, quality housing for Detroiters

• Currently, only 10% of the city’s estimated 82,000 rental properties are in compliance, linked to overly complex and expensive compliance standards
• Proposed amendments include shift from an expensive 37-point two-step inspection process to an affordable 15-point one-step inspection that addresses the most common and serious safety issues
• Revised ordinance revamps City of Detroit’s rental escrow program to remove barriers and make it easier for Detroiters to qualify
• Changes include beefing up enforcement and violations for landlords not in compliance

Mayor Mike Duggan was joined today by City Council Member Mary Waters to propose major changes to Chapter 8 of Detroit’s City Code as it relates to rental properties in the city. The proposed ordinance changes will maintain high standards for rental housing safety; streamline the compliance process, making it far easier for good landlords to comply; and ensure that dodgy landlords face real penalties. By increasing the effectiveness of the City of Detroit’s oversight of rental properties altogether, these changes will improve the quality of rental housing available to tenants across the city.

City Council Member at-large Mary Waters is passionate about ensuring access to safe, reliable housing for Detroiters. She is sponsoring this ordinance amendment. “All Detroiters deserve access to quality, affordable housing,” said Waters. “I am proud of the work we have done to update our rental ordinances to combat slumlords and ensure that renters are treated fairly and can be assured that the places they rent are safe. We must never have another child die due to unsafe, dilapidated rental housing as happened to Ca’Maya Davis.”

A 2022 Detroit Future City report estimates the City of Detroit has approximately 82,000 rental properties. Just over 10% are currently in compliance, meaning they are registered rental properties that have passed the city’s two-step inspection process.

City officials believe the biggest reason landlords are not coming into compliance is because current requirements are complicated, costly and ineffective. “The City’s current approach is not working,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “We want to streamline the process for landlords, most of whom rent only one or two properties and can’t navigate the red tape or afford the costly inspections. These proposed amendments will improve the quality of housing for our residents and give them more leverage when working to have repairs made to the property they’re renting.”

The proposal implements recommendations from the Center for Community Progress, a national expert group that spent over a year researching how to improve Detroit’s current system. “Currently, 90% of rental homes are never inspected and have few safeguards in practice. These changes will get more homes inspected, using high safety standards that reflect national best practices,” said Andie Taverna, Director of Policy and Implementation in the Mayor’s Office.

Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department launched the Housing Resource HelpLine last year. The HelpLine fields daily calls from tenants complaining about living conditions in their rental properties and offers connections to assistance programs.

David Bowser, the Deputy Director of the Housing and Revitalization Department, who also oversees its Housing Services Division and the Housing Resource HelpLine, has been working with Council Member Waters and key members of the administration to create a better system for landlords and residents alike. “Over the past year, we’ve come to the stark realization that tenants who are having issues with landlords feel forgotten. We also know that landlords who want to comply feel practically unable to do so. These ordinance amendments will provide tenants with a greater ability to demand quality housing from their landlords and will help landlords actually provide it.”

Revised inspection approach proposed

The proposed ordinance amendments include a shift from the current system, which requires two property inspections: one to inspect the home’s condition and one for lead safety to a new One Inspection, One Fee Plan that will ensure core health and safety requirements are met with one, lower-cost inspection that is more closely aligned with national standards.

Under the current system, some of the inspection checkpoints are purely cosmetic and unrelated to health and safety. The inspection revamp would remove any of these unnecessary inspection points. It would combine similar and/or duplicative inspection points into a simplified checklist that clearly states the exact safety standard so there is no room for differing interpretations.

BSEED Director Dave Bell takes housing quality very seriously and is looking forward to making progress in compliance citywide once the proposed ordinance is approved. “Detroit landlords have been telling us the current approach is too exhaustive. We know the result is that few are taking steps to be compliant,” said Bell. “These proposed changes will make it easier for landlords to go through the process, and our inspectors will not cut corners when it comes to residents’ health and safety.”

The proposed inspection revamp also includes a Building Safety Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) customer pledge to make inspections consistent, clear and safety driven. All inspectors will be trained to ensure consistent application of standards in initial inspections as well as re-inspections after repair. The checklist of standards will be posted on the city’s website and will be sent directly to landlords prior to each inspection.

Revamping the City’s Escrow Program

Escrow is a tool for tenants to provide a push for landlords to meet health and safety standards. If a property lacks a certificate of compliance or has other safety issues, tenants can pay rent into an escrow account rather than to their landlord without risking eviction. If the property comes into compliance, the funds will be distributed to the landlord. If not, the funds are returned to the tenant.

Detroit’s existing Escrow Program has several barriers which make it difficult, if not next to impossible, for residents to use. On average, only 20 tenants per year use the program in its current form, with nearly 90% of applicants found ineligible.

The existing program requires:

• Residence in a single-family home or duplex only
• Written lease that does not expire within 90 days and is not month-to-month
• Proof of last three months’ rental payments
• Identification card, as well as utility bill in the applicant’s name at the property in question
• No pending litigation at the property, including an eviction case

These requirements do not reflect the reality of many renters, who in many cases do not have an ID, written leases, or written proof of rent payments they’ve made.

The proposed ordinance amendments will completely revamp the Detroit Escrow Program, removing barriers and making it far easier for Detroit residents to participate by adding flexibility on residence type, written lease, payment proof and ID policies. The proposal also seeks to move the program from the city’s BSEED to the city’s Housing and Revitalization Department (HRD), which has expertise at working with tenants to ensure safe, stable housing. Through the Housing Services Division, each resident participating in the Escrow Program will be assigned a case worker to help ensure a successful resolution.

Changes to City of Detroit’s lead inspection system

The City of Detroit’s current lead inspection system is the most exhaustive in the country, which results in 90% of rentals never even inspected for lead safety. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development says the most common cause of lead poisoning is lead-contaminated surface dust. Lead dust is generated as lead-based paint deteriorates over time. Most cities and states focus lead safety inspections on damaged paint and the dust it causes.

Included in the proposed ordinance amendments, the City of Detroit would shift to a national best practice model with proven results in reducing lead poisoning. The goal is to get more homes inspected and focus those inspections on the most common causes of lead poisoning.

Currently, in the City of Detroit, we require a Lead Inspection & Risk Assessment (LIRA), where all surfaces are analyzed with an XRF gun and paint, dust and soil samples are taken. There is a growing national consensus that visual inspection for damaged paint and dust sampling is the best approach: cities and states that have updated their protocols in recent years have used this method after determining that a LIRA is not an efficient way to identify potential sources of lead poisoning. Cities and states using this inspection method have seen a drastic reduction in lead poisoning cases, with declines of over 80%. In contrast, nearly 10% of Detroit kids tested have elevated blood lead levels, multiple times higher than the rate in these other cities and states.

“Detroiters deserve to know the homes they’re living in are free of potential sources of lead poisoning,” said Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair Razo. “Currently, not enough of our rental properties are going through the process of having these properties evaluated for potential risk, putting our residents – and especially our children – at greater risk. These proposed ordinance changes will help ensure more homes in Detroit are inspected and more precautions are taken to keep our families safe.”

Next steps

Tuesday, July 16, the ordinance amendments were read during Detroit City Council Formal Session and referred to be introduced by Council Member Mary Waters at the Public Health and Safety Committee Hearing on Monday, July 22. A public hearing will then be scheduled to ensure the community has a voice before the amendments are considered for adoption by the full City Council.