Tiffany Hawkins: Oversight is needed regarding unsafe rental properties

To The Daily Sun,

Where is the oversight when it comes to non-habitable, unsafe homes that keep being put on the rental market?

In our communities, tenants are repeatedly placed in vulnerable positions, moving into properties that look acceptable on the surface but harbor severe, systemic building and health code violations underneath. Even worse, when these issues are finally exposed, landlords often face no real fines, penalties, or long-term consequences. Instead of being forced to repair the property, some owners simply find ways to remove the reporting tenant ― only to put the exact same unrepaired, substandard apartment right back on the market months later for the next unsuspecting family.

This is a failure of local accountability. Leaving code enforcement entirely up to tenant complaints does not work. Many tenants are terrified to speak up because they fear losing their housing in an already impossible rental market.

Our local officials ― including town managers, health officers, and selectboards ― must shift from a reactive approach to a proactive one. We need local ordinances that mandate routine, independent safety inspections for all rental units every three to five years before a lease can even be signed. A mandatory inspection policy would level the playing field, ensuring that good landlords aren't competing with slumlords, and that no family is forced to live in squalor.

If we want safe, stable communities, our towns must stop letting negligent property owners exploit the housing crisis at the expense of human health and safety. It is time for our local leaders to enforce the housing standards already on the books and hold bad actors legally and financially accountable.

Tiffany Hawkins

Ashland