(a) Substandard buildings as defined in the Uniform Housing Code pose a threat to the health and safety of those who live in such conditions and, if unattended, detrimentally impact property values, compromise the general welfare of the surrounding community, and erode public confidence in its local government. Experience from larger cities reveals that left unchecked, substandard housing leads to physical and economic blight, demoralizing entire neighborhoods.
(b) Currently, Thousand Oaks has a relatively young housing stock and does not have a widespread problem with substandard buildings. As the housing stock ages, the occurrence of substandard conditions will increase. However, it is a better practice to anticipate future problems and act now to minimize or avoid these problems. Whenever possible, property owners deserve to be notified and provided an opportunity to abate substandard conditions occurring on their property. However, a Property Owner’s repeated failure to correct substandard conditions will not be tolerated.
(c) The purpose of the ordinance codified in this chapter is to identify those property owners who do not comply with final orders of the Code Compliance Officer, designate such property owners as “Substandard Housing Owners,” and place all properties owned by Substandard Housing Owners into a proactive code compliance program, in order to encourage Property Owners to properly manage, control and maintain their properties and to deter Property Owners from allowing people to live in substandard conditions.
(§ 1, Ord. 1319-NS, eff. June 4, 1998)