Adding housing inspectors not easy
Hartford leaders split over number to hire and whether it’s enough
The six Hartford residents may live in different apartment buildings — some even with different landlords — but their stories were unfortunately similar: units infested with vermin and insects, elevators that work sporadically, if at all, mold, bathroom leaks and unsecure main entrances and exits.
They also shared similar stories of a small city housing inspection corps overwhelmed by the volume of tenant complaints and unable to adequately address their concerns.
“This is ridiculous,” said one tenant who lives on May Street. “I live in unsanitary and unsafe conditions.”
In the summer, the tenants, whose names have been withheld for fear of retaliation from their landlords, expressed some optimism just after the city passed its fiscal year 2023 budget, which included funding for the hiring of new inspectors to help with the thousands of complaints that are logged every year either online or through the 311 system.
But some of that optimism has been dimmed over how many new inspectors will be hired to tackle an issue in a city with the highest percentage of residents who rent (75%) in the state.
It’s undisputed that Hartford had just seven housing inspectors budgeted for fiscal year 2021-22. During budget discussions, City Councilors Josh Michtom and Tiana Hercules of the Working Families Party proposed increasing the number of housing inspectors to 20. That number, they said, would put Hartford in line with other cities in the Northeast, including New Haven, Bridgeport, and Lowell, Massachusetts.
Michtom said he believed he and Hercules had negotiated with city council leadership to ultimately have 14 inspectors this year: 10 through the city budget and four funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Michtom also said he understood that was agreed to by the mayor’s office.
Not so, according to Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, who said the number of inspectors paid for through the general fund was increased from seven to nine. In addition, two other inspectors are being funded through ARPA dollars, putting the total number of approved inspectors at 11. The team also includes a supervisor and two administrative assistants to follow up on enforcement actions, Bronin said.
“I don’t know what [the 14 is] based on,” Bronin said in a telephone interview. “That’s not accurate. … We have taken the approach, which I feel very strongly about, that we’re not using ARPA dollars to fund ongoing … operational costs.”
The two inspectors funded through ARPA will be sustained going forward through the revenue generated by the new residential licensing program, which is just over a year old, Bronin said.
“What we’re not willing to do, what we don’t think is responsible, is to use shortterm revenues like ARPA dollars to fund long-term costs,” Bronin said.
Council President Maly Rosado, a Democrat, and Councilor John Gale, of the Hartford Party, were involved with Michtom in the discussions over the number of inspectors during the budget negotiations.
Rosado said there was never an agreement for 14 inspectors.
“We added two additional housing inspectors in the most recent budget because this is an issue that’s important to all of us, and I know that the administration is working to fill those new positions,” Rosado said in a telephone interview. “All of the members of the council supported the addition of those positions, and we’d all love to do more in the future, but the idea that there was some agreement to do something different than we actually budgeted for is not correct.”
Gale, for his part, said there were budget discussions over the staffing of inspectors, but did not recall specific numbers.
Michtom says the increase won’t address the systemic need to protect the city’s most vulnerable populations who don’t have the resources to address housing issues on their own.
“It’s just not enough inspectors to provide safe and adequate housing for the city,” Michtom said. “And it’s almost not worth getting caught up in whether there was an agreement for 14 or 12 or anything. Then we are counting the beans for an inadequate portion.
“When Councilor Hercules and I initially proposed a budget amendment that would have provided 20 inspectors overall, we didn’t pick that number at random. We looked at comparable cities with similar housing stock and we looked at the housing crisis, in terms of rent and quality in the city and we felt there had to be action. We backed off because 14 was pretty good. But even 14 would be inadequate. And 11 is more inadequate. As far as I’m concerned the folks who have to answer for this are the mayor and the council majority.”
Michtom said the city could find the money in the general fund to increase the number of inspectors if some officials “change their skewed priorities.”
“We have twice the national average number of police and half the national average of housing inspectors. That is a billboard for bad priorities,” he said.
City officials, however, have said they are looking out for residents.
When Judith Rothchild began working as the city’s blight remediation director in May 2021, Hartford employed just five housing inspectors.
During her first year, mostly just with five inspectors, the team fielded 2,031 complaints through 311 and conducted 5,794 inspections, she said. That included after-hour emergencies, emergency vacates and units being condemned.
“They are working as hard as they can right now, and I do believe that’s going to grow with the additional … inspectors,” Rothschild said.
The city currently has eight housing inspectors, according to Rothschild, with a job posting online for the additional three inspectors.
She said the plan is for the city to be divided into eight districts with one inspector assigned to each district. When fully staffed, three inspectors will be assigned to respond to emergencies throughout the city, she said.
In addition to the increased staffing, the city will see improvements through the relatively new rental licensing program, which changes the system from reactive to proactive and will require all landlords to have the city conduct a pre-inspection for suitability of habitability and license them to do so, Rothschild said.
“It’s an extensive inspection involving housing code enforcement, review of the property for code violations, and also involves a lead-space inspection by a certified lead risk assessor that the place is lead safe and a fire marshal approval that there are no violations there and it also requires building department approval,” she said. “We don’t even begin to license a place that doesn’t qualify as legally present under our zoning department. It is a massive and effective preventive program … that should over time reduce the number of complaints coming out of the city.”
The program, Rothschild said, is rolling out over time. Last year, the city started inspecting buildings with 40 or more units, including hotels and rooming houses. This year, the city is inspecting and licensing buildings with between 10 and 39 units, Rothschild said.
She also notes that renters with issues should call 311 and log a complaint. That triggers having an inspector assigned and, based on the significance of the complaint and the urgency, what other action needs to be taken. If an essential service, such as a lack of heat, hot water or access to a working sanitary facility, inspectors are supposed to respond within 24 hours.
“Those will be responded to with orders, if necessary, to vacate the property and that’s just something that unfortunately happens in our city,” Rothschild said.
Other complaints that are considered nonurgent, Rothschild said, must be responded to within 72 hours to set up an inspection with the complainant, who is usually the tenant.
“What’s required is good communication and cooperation from the occupant-tenant for us to get into the unit and to allow the landlord or the landlord’s service people — pest control, a contractor or a superintendent depending on level of repair needed — to come in. … That’s a big part of our success.”
She also acknowledged it can be frustrating when repairs or dealing with infestations may require more time to address.
“An extermination means an elimination, and that is not always in one step,” she said. “It’s done in multiple steps to achieve that result because that’s the way it works. It can be frustrating for tenants, and we understand that, but it also can be expensive for landlords, but it has to be done. We encourage both sides to do it within a timeframe we set. Everything is not a 30-day notice. If it’s more urgent than that, we have the authority to make it much less than that if we can leave them there.”
The city also has enforcement mechanisms including fines and taking landlords to criminal court for additional financial penalties for housing code violations, Rothschild said.
But there is a gulf between what Rothschild described and what some tenants are saying they see in practice.
One resident on Asylum Street said when an inspector comes out for a leak, the landlord will paint over the damage but not address the underlying problem that will cost more money to fix.
“They try to cover up everything that is happening,” the tenant said. “I have to find my own way to do stuff to make me feel comfortable in my own home.”
Others tenants declined to speak out of fear of retaliation.
It’s an issue of which the city is well aware, Rothschild said.
“Fairness in housing also has to do with healthy housing,” she said. “This is certainly the way the law looks at it. I am very aware and city officials are also aware of the effect of bad housing on people of color. It’s just not acceptable, and a lot of those people are afraid to make complaints. We recognize that. Retaliation is illegal. …
“In a perfect world we’d have enough inspectors to solve every single problem in housing in the city. We have a great team of very dedicated, passionate inspectors, and that is what the Department of Development Services is able to provide right now. … We are on the upswing.”