Disaster spurs city to boost inspections

Tragedy has spurred one Maine community to abandon its complaint-driven approach to housing safety.

Following a house fire that killed six young adults on Halloween night in 2014, the Portland City Council created a new Housing Safety Office.

The office’s first goal was to proactively inspect two-family homes, like the one where the deadly blaze occurred, because they were not included in the city fire department’s ongoing inspections of multi-unit apartment buildings.

Michael Russell, the city’s director of permitting and inspections, said the proactive approach has undoubtedly saved lives.

“It’s being able to get out there and intervene before there is a problem, tragedy or someone gets hurt,” he said.

Today the Housing Safety Office employs four full-time inspectors who oversee all of the city’s 18,000 or so rental units. A database helps dole out inspection assignments using information such as construction date, home-building materials and complaint history.

“We prioritize inspection based on risk,” Russell said.

The Housing Safety Office’s current budget is about $350,000 a year. It’s funded by charging landlords an annual fee of $35 for each rental unit they operate, but the city gives discounts for installing fire sprinklers, banning indoor smoking and meeting other safety criteria.

As for the owner of the Portland home where the six people died, he was charged with manslaughter. Officials say such action could spur other landlords to be more rigorous about code compliance.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.