Editor&8217;s note: This is the third of a three-part series on rental housing in Albert Lea. This article concentrates on the perspective of the city concerning how the proposed rental housing ordinance was formulated and how they reacted after the ordinance went up before the Albert Lea City Council.

By Sarah Stultz, AlbertLeaTribune.com

Though during the last month Albert Lea building inspectors Paul Stieler and Mark Roche have taken much of the heat for forming Albert Lea&8217;s proposed rental housing ordinance, they say they still stand by their decision to formulate the ordinance and work to improve the rental housing stock within the city.

&8220;I really think this is a program to help maintain housing stock,&8221; Stieler said. &8220;If these units aren&8217;t maintained, sooner or later the cost to repair exceeds the value of the property.&8221;

Long before the Albert Lea City Inspection Department formulated the new controversial rental housing ordinance &8212; during a time that some may not remember &8212; the city already had a plan in place for keeping track of rentals.

In the 1970s, Albert Lea operated a system where houses would get inspected six blocks at a time, Stieler said.

People didn&8217;t seem all too concerned about having the inspections completed, and the inspection department never had to obtain an administrative search warrant for the cause, he said.

Because of budget cuts, however, this program faded out.

Over time, problems concerning the housing stock within the city have resurfaced &8212; in fact, it&8217;s a recurring problem, Stieler said.

&8220;We were looking for a solution to a problem that&8217;s been on the books for quite a while,&8221; Roche said.

Creating the ordinance

After several complaints were given to Albert Lea city councilors and concern for the project rose, city officials decided it needed to come up with an ordinance to address rental housing issues.

Together with the Albert Lea Police Department, the inspection department talked about areas of concern.

They contacted neighboring communities, such as Faribault, Owatonna, Mankato and Rochester, to see how their rental housing ordinances worked.

After six months of research, they were ready to go onto the next step: presenting it to the Albert Lea City Council for a vote.

To give a heads-up, they presented their findings to small groups of landlords without any major concern, they said.

&8220;We had meetings ahead of time, but until it&8217;s on the table, they don&8217;t take it seriously,&8221; Roche said.

Then on April 14, the ordinance came before the council during a public hearing.

That day more than a dozen landlords came out against the ordinance and particularly the proposal of registering landlords to enforce the already-in-place minimum housing standards to the living conditions of people who rent apartments and houses.

If the ordinance had passed, all property owners who choose to rent a dwelling would have been required to obtain a license and to have an inspection of their premises prior to renting. Then, subsequent inspections would have to be conducted every few years, depending on the results of the previous inspection.

Because of the outcry from the landlords, the council decided to table the ordinance indefinitely to allow them time to work with a task force of people who might be directly affected by it.

&8220;I think it was a pretty good ordinance based on other communities,&8221; Stieler said. Most of the information in it came from neighboring communities with some modifications for local concerns.

Roche and Stieler said they expected some outcry from landlords.

&8220;Anytime you look at change there&8217;s always some concern,&8221; Stieler said.

Since that meeting, the department has met with the rental housing task force to try to pinpoint any major concerns.

The top five concerns are currently being addressed, and the city is trying to iron out any problems that people have with the ordinance.

Stieler and Roche wanted people to know that when landlords let a piece of property go downhill, this does have an affect on the value of the neighboring properties.

&8220;If we get the ordinance approved we&8217;ll see a marked improvement of housing stock,&8221; Stieler said.

Keeping busy

Roche said the city inspection department deals with about 15 to 20 rental complaints each year &8212; some of which are minor and some of which are more intense.

There are about six open complaints for rentals right now, he added.

On all of those cases, someone from the inspection department goes out to the property and takes pictures of the situation so that they have some form of documentation. Then, depending on the seriousness of the issues, the inspection department gives the property&8217;s landlord a list of corrections to complete at the house and a certain time that those things must be fixed by.

Unlike what some may think, these complaints are not limited to two or three blocks in town; instead they&8217;re spread out all over town, he said.

Of all the houses in Albert Lea that are placarded, about one-fourth of them are rentals, Roche said.

Until an ordinance is passed to address all of the concerns that have been raised, he wanted tenants to know that they always have the option of complaining to the city if they are dealing with problems that aren&8217;t getting fixed.

&8220;That option is available, and if anybody has any questions, they can ask,&8221; Roche said.

If tenants are afraid of repercussions from their landlords for calling the department, they should know that they have legal rights that protect them from anything happening.

If people need a copy of the tenant and landlord responsibilities, they can pick up a copy of them from Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services.

For now, the city will continue working with the task force on their concerns for the ordinance.

The next task force meeting is May 15.