Aligning Policy and Housing Outcomes
Rental Unit Inspections
Phase in Rental Registry and Inspection Process
Issues/Opportunities Addressed:
Timeframe for Action: Inspection Process - Long Term
Over time, RKG recommends that the rental registry be
combined with a regular inspection requirement to
ensure all rental housing in Nashua is code compliant
and safe for residents. The RKG Team recommends
the City require inspections every 3 years, or every 10
years for units that retain the same tenant, whichever
is longer. The City will likely need additional code
enforcement staff and more comprehensive tracking
software to monitor compliance and progress on
rehabilitation projects to accomplish this. As identified
in the previous recommendation, the registration fee
is intended to cover these increased costs to the City.
Further, the City should ensure there are penalties for
landlords that fail to register for the program, are
repeat offenders to code compliance violations, and
fail to complete required repairs in a timely manner.
That said, the City will need to strategize about how to
administer initial violations under the program to
avoid potentially overwhelming both landlords and the
contractors that serve this market. RKG recommends
the City consider a longer grace period for a first
inspection (i.e. six months rather than a standard of
three months).
Nashua Housing Study - 69
In coordination with addressing the impact of
requiring rehabilitation efforts to gain code
compliance, the City could consider creating a stand-
alone repair program for code compliance for
landlords that can income-verify tenants. The City’s
new rental rehabilitation program could serve as a
vehicle for providing funding to landlords who cannot
afford to address code compliance violations on
their own. Creating and capitalizing the rehab
program most likely will increase compliance while
enabling landlords to retain lower rents despite the
repair costs. The City could add to the existing
funding with any remaining registry and inspection
fees.
Any financial assistance to landlords should require
a minimum commitment to affordability. The City
could create a sliding scale for how much a landlord
can receive based on the income level of the verified
tenant and location in the City. The City could
establish bonuses or offer forgivable loans (with a
minimum 5-year commitment) for serving lower
income households (i.e. under 50% AMI) or in
neighborhoods with greater housing condition
issues. Revenues from the rental registry could be
used to assist landlords with income verification.
ASSOCIATES INC
Concurrent with the proposed policy and program
changes to protect tenants, the City should directly
engage with landlords through a landlord roundtable to
discuss policy and program development and
implementation. Simply put, the City should be
proactively soliciting feedback from those directly
impacted by these new/revised approaches to better
understand and address challenges/issues that
currently exist/may arise due to new approaches to
addressing housing needs. Listening to the concerns
of landlord during the policy/program development
process can address potential impacts before
finalization and build buy-in through two-way
communication and coordination. The Landlord
Engagement Forum should include a diverse mix of
landlords (i.e. small and large landlords, racially
diverse, investors from different areas of the City,
student landlords...) to help identify market changes
that affect existing/proposed policies
