Code enforcement: setting the record straight

On his Facebook account, Councilmember Neal Andrews has posted thoughtful background on Ventura's code enforcement effort, rebutting the scare talk about people losing their homes for failing to get permits to replace a water heater:

A few skillful political agitators are actively promoting the notion that the City is going to force little old grandmothers into homelessness by sending its jack-booted “Nazi code enforcers” out to harass innocent homeowners, who unwittingly and innocently bought or built illegal dwelling units within the City. They say these are really safe and affordable housing units that we need desperately to preserve. They say this is all about the greedy City searching for new sources of money. They say the building and safety codes haven’t been enforced for “a hundred years”, so why now in these troubling economic times, when affordable housing is in short supply, should we suddenly begin to enforce these laws. And, naturally, they always point to the darkest and worst possible reasons.

Here are the facts.

City code enforcement officers have an important public function to perform. They are enforcement officers. The City has a responsibility to enforce laws duly enacted, mostly by the State, to ensure that housing within the City is safe and meets basic construction standards. These are laws, for example, that ensure that your electrical wiring is properly installed, so you won’t be electrocuted or your house will not burn down because of a short-circuit in the system.

Code enforcement officers also have the obligation to enforce codes that protect you from health and sanitation hazards. These are laws, for example, that make certain your plumbing is installed correctly so that the germs in the sewer system cannot find their way back up the sewer pipes into your home and that your pipes bringing your drinking water to your tap don’t contain illegal lead that will retard the brain development of your children.

Code enforcement is obligated to enforce the laws that you and your elected representatives have enacted to preserve the quality of life in our community as well – laws that, for the sake of ensuring reasonable privacy, require a certain distance between your home and the new rental unit that your neighbor wants to build behind his house, or that prevent a garage from being converted to a spare room while a neighbor then parks his cars on the street where your visitors would have been able to park as intended, but now can’t find space, or laws that simply prohibit your neighbor from destroying the property values of your entire neighborhood because they think they should be able to “store” their junk cars or appliances in their front yard.

The scare talk began when the Council voted to shift resources to preventing slum conditions rather than simply responding to complaints, since so often renters are understandly reluctant to complain. In shifting to a "pro-active" enforcement effort, however, it became clear that many rentals, although illegal or substandard, do not pose a health and safety hazard. As a result, next month staff is bringing to the City Council a proposal for a one-year amnesty program to promote voluntary compliance. Everyone recognizes that there are real differences between conditions like a garage recently converted into a living unit for a family and a small guest house built decades ago without recorded permits. Here are some simple answers to questions that have been raised:

Q: When an individual has a home that was constructed many years ago, does the City require them to bring it up to current code when no other work is being done?

A: No. The State and City Building Standards are very clear about this. Only damage repair, voluntary alterations and additions must meet current code requirements.

Q: On an older home, if a property owner comes in for a permit for improvements, will the inspector use that opportunity to "hunt" for other violations such as an unpermitted water heater?

A: Staff reviews the property records to confirm that what is shown on a plan as "existing" has been permitted and approved. When discrepancies are identified, the owner can provide the following information to substantiate their position that the construction legally exists:

• County Assessor inspection records that show the use/structure was on the tax role before the property was annexed
• Executed Real Estate Documents
• Executed Lease Agreements
• MLS Listings
• Signed Affidavit from Prior Property Owner
  

If and owner has installed a water heater (or made other changes) without a permit, they will be required to obtain the permit required by the State of California. The State gives staff zero discretion in this matter. In fact, any inspector (or other City staff person) that knowingly allows work to proceed, or exist, without required permits is both personally and professionally liable.

Housing code enforcement, like traffic law enforcement, is inherently controversial. No one in their right mind would favor eliminating enforcement of such laws, but anyone who has ever gotten a traffic or building code citation has opinions about the "fairness" of enforcement. We continue to work hard to tackle enforcing State and local laws evenly, sensibly and cost-effectively. Not an easy task, but we can all agree, someone has to do it.