Council favors city code study to assist renters

Ensuring habitability goal; hate-crime item also OK’d

FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville City Council on Tuesday gave staff members the green light to research ways the city could give tenants in rental properties protections from uninhabitable conditions.

Council members voted 7-0 on a resolution encouraging landlords to ensure habitability and safety of their rental properties. The measure has no regulatory teeth.

It also requested that Mayor Lioneld Jordan direct the staff to research potential changes to the city code dealing with habitability standards.

The city code already has a provision for unsafe buildings and property nuisances. It prohibits any house or building that “has become dilapidated, unsafe, unsanitary or detrimental to the public welfare.”

Arkansas has no warranty of habitability and very poor tenant protections, according to the resolution the council adopted.

No one from the public spoke about the item.

Council Member Sloan Scroggin sponsored the resolution, saying he hoped to bring forth a measure with regulatory teeth at some point in the future. He said he had some ideas of regulations to pursue but wanted to explore the feasibility first.

“Fayetteville is almost half renters, and we really need to protect our residents,” Scroggin said.

Other council members expressed support or shared anecdotes of living in a rental property with problems. Sarah Marsh said she once lived in a house with dripping sewage and holes in the walls. She also asked the city to look into requiring landlords to provide an energy-use disclosure to tenants.

Homes with poor insulation, thin windows or inadequate pipes can cause tenants’ utility bills to skyrocket, Marsh said.

“That has a detrimental effect on our health, on our economy and as well as our environment,” she said. “I really hope we will help people make informed decisions about when they’re renting and hold landlords accountable to delivering safe, habitable properties.”

In other business, the council approved 7-0 a measure to allow the city prosecutor to present evidence of hate-crime intent with certain misdemeanors. No one from the public spoke on the item, and council members passed it without discussion.

The measure adopts 16 misdemeanors into city code, ranging from battery to disorderly conduct. The city prosecutor can prosecute one of the misdemeanor crimes under the city code with the hatecrime component attached. A district court judge could weigh the evidence showing hate-crime intent when sentencing. The range of penalty for the underlying offense, as defined under state statute, will stay the same.

Council Member Teresa Turk sponsored the measure, saying it sends a message that the city does not tolerate hate.

Legislators have presented a draft of a bill that would enhance punishment for crimes committed against people because of certain characteristics. Arkansas is one of three states that has no such law. The Legislature is expected to take up the measure in January.

Little Rock adopted an ordinance in July that adds fines of up to $1,000 and/or a jail sentence of 30, 60 or 90 days to an underlying misdemeanor offense.

Council Member Sarah Bunch was unavailable on those two votes. The meeting was held online via Zoom.

The council also unanimously approved giving Experience Fayetteville $20,000 to hold four outdoor events downtown.

The events will be held within the Outdoor Refreshment Area. The idea is to drum up pedestrian traffic to bars and restaurants when they might not otherwise get customers, Economic Vitality Director Devin Howland said.

The money will pay for heaters, tents, lighting and sanitation stations, along with programming, promotion and Experience Fayetteville staff members who will oversee the events.

The Outdoor Refreshment Area allows participating businesses to serve alcoholic drinks to customers who can then take the drinks in designated cups outside.

Bathrooms at the Fayetteville Town Center also will remain open for people looking at Lights of the Ozarks on the square or during the events.