In an effort to help upgrade housing in the city and halt the decline of neighborhoods, the City Council in October passed ordinance No. 071046 which creates a rental housing registration and inspection program.
While the ordinance requires rental properties throughout the entire city to be registered as of Jan. 1, 2008, it limits inspections of rental dwellings to certain target neighborhoods that have not yet been identified.
In these targeted neighborhoods, all of the structures, including owner-occupied and rental, will be inspected for compliance with the City's nuisance and property maintenance codes. Neighborhoods will be designated by the City Council in the next couple of months based upon the following criteria:
- Whether the percentage of rental housing in the area is at least 30%.
- Whether there is a significant amount of deteriorated housing in the area.
- Whether the residents, acting through their neighborhood or homes associations, have requested that the rental inspection and systematic code enforcement program be initiated in their area.
The number of neighborhoods that will be selected for inclusion in the program the first year will depend upon the number of housing units that are in the areas applying. It is anticipated that additional neighborhoods will be added to the program each year as resources permit. Inspections in the target areas are scheduled to begin May 1, 2008.
For additional information about the program, please contact Dan Schmelzinger, Neighborhood Preservation, daniel_schmelzinger@kcmo.org, or call (816) 513-9041.