The Westbrook City Council showed overwhelming support Monday for new rules requiring landlords to pay back the city for any money it spends on emergency housing for displaced tenants.
The move is seen as a reaction to recent events during the summer, where dozens of tenants were displaced due to serious code violations in the buildings in which they lived.
City officials emphasize they would only utilize the new ordinance for life-threatening violations.
Either by fire or building code issues, more than 50 people living in the city were displaced, at least temporarily, between June 18 and late July.
According to the language included in the ordinance, drafted by City Attorney Natalie Burns, “The owner of any such dwelling unit shall be responsible for reimbursement of any costs that the city incurs in providing emergency shelter or other alternative housing for any person lawfully residing in the dwelling unit at the time of the posting.”
The ordinance goes on to describe the process for the city to recoup the costs, with a bill giving landlords 30 days to comply.
While many landlords help in assisting displaced tenants, some do not.
In June and July, the city spent $1,700 to put up residents in local hotels until they found alternate housing. The money comes from the city’s General Assistance budget. Two of the incidents displacing residents during those months were fires, with tenants receiving assistance from the American Red Cross of Maine.
City Administrator Jerre Bryant said Wednesday that the cost incurred by the city shows that there was some cooperation from landlords.
“It’s not a huge number, but the concern is it could get larger,” he said, calling the amendment to the code “more preventive.”
“This is for the small percentage that have not willingly gone along with this,” he said about the ordinance.
Bryant said with the city more proactive with code issues, which have been recently highlighted in the American Journal, more tenants may come forward with complaints. However, he reiterated, the city would only follow up on serious violations.
This year, the city hired David Finocchietti as code enforcement compliance officer, marking an expanded attention to code issues at problem properties in Westbrook.
On June 18, Westbrook officials condemned a large Brackett Street apartment building after multiple code issues were found, displacing 23 people, including 12 children. Finocchietti has said there was visible sparking in the building’s wiring.
However, he said, code enforcement was not actively out looking for violations. In the case of Brackett Street, he was discussing an issue related to trash blowing around the property and said another tenant raised a complaint about the sparking.
On July 7, code enforcement condemned an apartment building at 683 Main St., ousting another 13 people for similar electrical code issues. Finocchietti said he was there to take photos of debris when he received a complaint.
“Everything has come in from a complaint,” he said. “Just being out there and available for people to talk to has really changed it.”
Since the buildings were condemned, 158 Brackett St. has undergone a complete electrical overhaul, while the Main Street building will most likely be put on the market.
If put in place, the ordinance will be new to Greater Portland, especially in a city that has a large number of rental properties. According to the 2010 Census, some 40 percent of residents lived in rental housing and 60 percent in owner-occupied housing.
“As far as I know, it hasn’t been done before,” Burns said Monday about the ordinance.
City Planner Molly Just said that “based on our 2010 population count, average household size at the time, and the renter percentage at the time, I estimate that there are over 2,563 rental-occupied housing units” in the city.
No Westbrook landlords were present during Monday’s meeting.
Brit Vitalius, the president of the Southern Maine Landlord Association, said Tuesday that his organization hasn’t had much time to discuss the ordinance, but has concerns about possibly not being included in the process.
“People are interested but are concerned about implementation,” he said.
At the group’s monthly meeting Tuesday, he said, one question was, “Who decides where the tenants are housed and the cost?”
“There’s a whole range of places you could put them up,” he said about the costs associated.
Vitalius added that with landlords involved in the discussion, the implementation of an ordinance will be smoother.
“We’re not oppositional,” he said, pointing to the fire safety discussion in Portland following the Noyes Street fire.
On Monday, Bryant called the ordinance an “important step” in getting “responsibility” where it should be, which was echoed by other councilors.
“This community found ways to help those people out,” said Councilor Brendan Rielly, referring to the displaced tenants. “I’m so pleased that we’re bringing this forward. This is the responsibility of the landlords, not the taxpayers.”
The council will hold a final reading at its next meeting on Oct. 5.
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