Communication Needed Between City, Landlords, Tenants
by Jake Mathias
Senior Staff Reporter
Allegations of city inspectors shirking duties and substandard rental housing by landlords were among many topics discussed at last Thursday’s Old Main Neighborhood Association Meeting.
“I know of several houses that are designed for single family homes yet rented out to four, five, six or even more unrelated people,” said Cindy Nebel, Co-founder of OMNA.
Nebel referred to the single- family homes within her own neighborhood not licensed as multiple dwelling units, yet housing more than two unrelated people- something against the city’s housing code.
“I’ve reached out to the city inspector’s office multiple times, but they keep telling me these properties are being inspected annually,” she said. “And there’s no way that’s happening.”
Local landlord David Brandt said he has initiated the conversation with OMNA and city leaders on several occasions. He said it’s the bad apples that help create some of the havoc in neighborhoods that share space with off- campus student housing.
“We’re really trying to create a case for the City of Stevens Point to show the city that there’s necessary need to go into these places occasionally and look at them,” Brandt said.
“Force change or pull the (housing) license. I can guarantee you no one will want to give up this license because it will not only wreck their ability to generate revenue off of the property but it will also devalue the property,” said Brandt, who added his rental properties are properly licensed, but have yet to be inspected in over two years.
In an email to Brandt, Stevens Point Building Inspector Jim Zepp said that the licensed multiple dwelling housing in Stevens Point are inspected on a yearly basis, usually in the spring.
There are nearly 400 properties with thousands of individual units in Stevens Point required to be inspected by the city. But according to Mayor Andrew Halverson, with only 2 inspectors employed by the city, the task is nearly impossible.
Brandt says he has collected testimonials from numerous students about safety issues and lack of proper maintenance to the properties they rent, but said no residents were willing to give their names or specific addresses for fear of reprisal from landlords.
Brandt also said he solicited photos of unsafe and unsanitary conditions from students via Facebook, with the promise of anonymity. The complaints he’s collected include that of bare wiring, black mold and unsafe construction.
Community Development Director Michael Ostrowski was unavailable to comment for this story, but Stevens Point Mayor Andrew Halverson said allegations of unsafe living conditions should have been communicated to city leaders.
“The fact that Mr. Brandt made multiple allegations of life safety matters that he said he observed but didn’t keep track of where, or let us know how and where to take corrective actions, which I found very strange,” said Halverson.
“Why doesn’t Mr. Brandt, if he’s identifying a life safety issue, why did he not immediately give us the address in those pictures?”
Halverson acknowledged the city did fall short in communication with local landlords regarding annual inspections. He added the majority of city inspections occur without landlord knowledge, with inspectors gaining access via tenant permission, which he called “a deficiency on our end”.
According to Halverson, all licensed properties are inspected annually, but only about 60 percent include internal and external inspections. The remaining 40 percent are placed at the top of the list for the following year’s inspections.
But with such a small inspection staff, Halverson said it’s possible some properties simply forgo licensing and slip through the cracks, but it’s up to residents to come forward.
“If people see things that are unsafe, we need to know about them,” said Halverson. “If we’re aware of them, that’s when we can intervene.”