These are already criminal offenses, and hundreds of property owners are charged every year for allowing their buildings to fall into disrepair.
City officials hope a new civil process will help to hold negligent property owners accountable.
“There’s too much abuse out there,” said Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph. “There are too many neighborhoods where houses are owned by people who can afford to fix them and are not.”
City officials have said due process requirements are higher in criminal cases than in civil cases, and this can tie the city’s hands when it comes to code enforcement.
They say some out-of-state property owners who have been cited for criminal housing code violations refuse to come to court, and the city is powerless to make them appear, which means the problems are never fixed.
In contrast, failing to appear in court for a civil offense violation can result in a default judgment.
A couple of city commissioners said they want to make sure there are protections in place so that struggling property owners aren’t unduly punished.
New civil process
The city commission this week may have the second reading of an ordinance that would amend multiple sections of city code.
In Dayton, it is illegal to allow the exteriors of structures to become structurally unsound or unsanitary. It’s also against the law to fail to install smoke detectors in some buildings, or to store and abandon vehicles that are inoperable or junked.
These are low-level criminal offenses.
Last year, more than 700 people were charged in Dayton Municipal Court with minor misdemeanor offenses for failing to maintain the exterior of their properties, according to court data obtained by this newspaper.
The proposed ordinance would create companion civil offenses that Dayton officials say should help hold people accountable for the poor conditions of their homes and buildings.
The proposed ordinance would allow the city to pursue civil remedies for housing violations through a new administrative process, said Greg Parker, assistant city attorney in Dayton’s law department.
Parker said a couple goals of this new process include swifter enforcement of housing code and holding responsible parties accountable for bad property conditions, including individuals, occupants and corporate entities (like limited liability companies).
Under this civil process, housing inspectors identify violations and issue violation notices.
Recipients then would have several options: They could admit liability and pay the fine; admit the violation and offer an explanation; or deny the violation and request a hearing.
Independent officers would oversee the hearings and issue decisions. Recipients who are determined to be liable would have to pay the fine and correct the violation.
The city would have the power to recover unpaid fines through liens placed on properties with violations.
If approved, the new civil housing code process would likely launch this upcoming spring.
Dayton City Commissioner Shenise Turner-Sloss said the city has lots of blighted homes and buildings that need to be addressed.
But she said she worries about financially burdening people who are struggling and who don’t have the money to fix up their properties.
She and Commissioner Darryl Fairchild said they want the city to take steps to try to protect and assist residents who lack resources to improve their properties and not just penalize them with fines.
City staff said housing inspectors often issue warnings to property owners before issuing citations, giving them a chance to fix the issues or share information about their situations.
Commissioner Chris Shaw he understands the concerns about not wanting to burden residents who are in bad financial straits. But he said this process importantly seeks to help ensure there is a minimum standard of property maintenance and upkeep.
“We have to make sure that the standard of living for everyone is kind of maintained,” he said. “I think over time we should definitely take a look at different mechanisms we can put in place to help folks that are in financial distress.”
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