Protecting tenants

As early as September, landlords will be legally obligated to provide tenants with documentation proving their apartments are up to code before renters move in. The new Rental Suitability Bill -- just signed into law last week by Mayor John Street -- may go a long way toward tipping the balance of power between tenants and landlords. But while this law was undeniably a step in the right direction, it's going to take a lot of further initiative to make real change possible.

While the bill aims to empower tenants, two major steps must be undertaken for the bill to actually be effective.

Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections, the organization responsible for enforcing the city's housing code, is already stretched too thin -- and understandably so. It is charged with overseeing the nearly 581,000 housing units within city limits as well as countless vacant properties.

With a budget of only $24 million, the department will be ill-equipped to certify new and renewed leases for the 349,000 apartments in the city of Philadelphia. Making matters worse, Street's administration is actually planning to decrease funding to the department over the next five years, devoting only $21 million for its operations in fiscal year 2010.

If the city wants to help protect renters -- and it should, considering that the number of city residents has been declining for the last half century -- the government must provide much more funding to inspectors. Without it, some landlords likely won't bring their housing units up to code or coordinate inspections because enforcement will be minimal. And even good, law-abiding landlords will struggle as they are forced to wait weeks before inspectors actually arrive -- all the while being forced to leave their apartments vacant until certification.

Penn students can do their part to ensure widespread compliance by demanding that campus landlords provide the new documentation required under the law when selecting housing next year. Doing so will spur landlords to abide by the process whether it remains difficult or not.

But even increased funding won't go far enough toward securing tenants' rights.

Councilman Rick Mariano's law is mostly useless unless renters know what their rights are. Even if City Hall does not follow up with an increased budget for Licenses and Inspections, it must roll out a major publicity campaign to educate both landlords and tenants as to the new law.

At the least, the city should send a mass mailing to every housing unit in the city to make tenants aware of their new rights and how they can affect their dealings with landlords. If tenants remain in the dark about their rights, then landlords will be able to simply continue the status quo.

Higher standards, even without enforcement, are still worthwhile. However, by properly funding inspections and informing tenants, Philadelphia can protect the safety of its residents and improve the condition of its housing stock at the same time.

It's common sense that housing units should be up to code before being rented. Now that the city has put that into law, it must now go the extra mile and make sure the law is enforced.

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