Mayor Marty Walsh announced a series of new housing developments for Boston on Saturday. Joined by Brian Swett, Chief of Environment & Energy of Boston, and Dr. Megan Sandel, M.D. M.P.H., Boston University Schools of Medicine and Public Health, the mayor made it known that he would launch a full inspection of landlords with a history of code violations and has proposed a restructuring of registration fees.
The mayor’s announcement was also symbolic in nature has he made his address at an apartment in Mattapan owned by an out-of-state company. The tenants of the building, according to the the mayor’s press office, have since been displaced due to the building’s outstanding violations that include leaky pipes, flooding and lacking utilities.
“Boston has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, and too often we only find out about serious health and safety issues through tenant complaints or after a tragedy has struck. This is an important step in ensuring access to safe and healthy housing for all Bostonians,” said Mayor Walsh.
Proactive inspections that will begin this spring will allow the city to correct housing problems sooner and connect landlords with services and programs that will help them repair their units quickly and at lower cost. We heard concern from our constituents that the registration fees may have been a barrier to some landlords, but this amendment strikes a balance with those concerns and addressing the real safety issues we see in neglected rental properties.
The amendment he will submit to the Boston City Council next week intends to waive registration fees of family-owned buildings in which multiple family members, including at least one senior aged 65 and over, resides. The idea is to lessen any economic burden on the owners of these types of housing in order to flush money back into the building in the form of health and safety measures.
Notes the mayor’s press office further, “Boston’s proactive rental registration and inspection program will help the City correct dangerous housing conditions before tragedies strike and address longstanding health problems associated with non-code compliant housing conditions such as mold and pest infestations.”
To further bolster Boston’s health and safety in the housing market, he has directed the Inspectional Services Department to launch investigations into landlords with a repeated history of code violations, as well as in various subsequent rental units scattered throughout the city.
