Keep Me Informed
< TOOLKIT HOME

Code Enforcement

  • What is it?
  • Why Use it?
  • How to use it?
  • Key Players
  • Challenges
  • Success Factors
  • Financing
  • Policy
  • Case Studies
  • Resources
  • Download the Tool
  • Printer Friendly

    • Challenges

    Housing code enforcement requires financial and business acumen, since:

    • Many buildings transferred to tenants and community organizations are in poor condition and burdened with substantial debt.
    • Successful rehabilitation and long-term operation depends on the creation of sustainable ownership and management structures.

    Other Challenges:

    Know the Context

    The best way to minimize the danger of invoking housing code enforcement is to know the government being dealt with and to assess that government's likely reaction to the community's efforts to direct housing code enforcement for neighborhood benefit.

    Housing code enforcement is complex. Housing code enforcement agencies have the power to condemn and otherwise close buildings. As a result, code enforcement can lead to gentrification, displacement of tenants , and permanent loss of affordable housing instead of community revitalization. Communities and tenants are often rightfully cautious about bringing inspectors into the community when there is no guarantee that the enforcement personnel will resolve the code violations in a manner beneficial to the community.

     

    Housing code enforcement makes properties more attractive to private developers . A danger of many tools that successfully revitalize communities is that revitalized communities may attract the kinds of investments that then displace lower-income residents. Local government can neglect tenants and community when it discovers that it can seize the property from the irresponsible owners and reassign as it sees fit. Some jurisdictions may choose for-profit developers creating market-rate condos, rather than working with community organizations to preserve affordable housing. In tight markets, tenant-owners will be pressured to sell their buildings or individual units at an attractive profit. While this may serve the short-term interest of the tenant-owners, it does not serve the long-term needs of preserving affordable housing for others in the community.

    Every use of the housing code enforcement tool is unique. The housing code enforcement tool involves sensitive negotiations. The identity of the players and their reactions will vary in every situation. As a result, no one road map can guide a community through the various dangers that lurk on the path to successful use of housing code enforcement.