(A) Findings. Housing in the city consists of owner occupied and tenant occupied properties and the two types of housing are in general parity. A substantial number of complaints about and violations of the code provisions adopted to assure minimum adequate housing arise from tenant occupied property. State law and this code impose the responsibility to provide minimally adequate housing for tenants on the property owner. The substantial majority of such complaints arise at single family dwellings, duplexes, and apartment houses. These properties are the subject of numerous complaints of minimum housing and building code violations, public health nuisances, junk motor vehicle violations, overcrowding by tenants, increased criminal activities create nuisances and generally degrade the livability of neighborhoods surrounding rental properties with a history of chronic violations. Existing remedial measures in the code are insufficient to achieve prompt code compliance resulting in significant adverse impacts on the public health, safety, and welfare of the city, its citizens and neighborhoods including the quality of life for tenants. To expedite compliance with the code at such properties and thereby assure better quality housing for tenants and the neighborhoods, the Council finds it necessary to adopt additional remedial measures including permitting and monitoring of problem properties for more effective compliance with the code at such properties, and to the extent circumstances demonstrate, on a case-by-case basis the need for application of the remedial measures to attain and maintain code compliance for protection of the health, safety and welfare of the residents of the city.
(B) Declaration of necessity. It is deemed necessary in order to promote public health, welfare, good order and safety of the city and its residents that persons renting residential properties where there exist certain unsafe building, minimum housing, zoning or nuisance code violations in addition to certain criminal violations should be subject to a permitting system to allow for increased oversight and inspection by the city for compliance. Permitting will:
(1) Reduce the likelihood that certain residential housing accommodations with chronic code violations will become public nuisances in violation of G.S. § 19-l(b);
(2) Promote responsible management of rental housing accommodations;
(3) Assist in providing a safe habitat for residents and neighbors of rental housing;
(4) Safeguard property values and provide suitable safe rental housing stock;
(5) Reduce the likelihood that housing accommodations where such problems most frequently have arisen and which are unfit for human habitation, dangerous, or injurious to the public will exist or be occupied;
(6) Expedite repair of residential housing accommodations where such problems arise.
(Ord. O-2009-24, passed 7-21-09)