EDITORIAL: Aurora lawmakers discarded a solution to a rental slum controversy

https://sentinelcolorado.com/opinion/editorial-aurora-lawmakers-discarded-a-solution-to-a-rental-slum-controversy/

"The measure would have required apartment owners to pay for private, regular inspections of the complexes and individual units to ensure they are habitable.

Licensing fees associated with the proposal would have allowed the city to double the number of code inspectors currently on staff. Former city officials say that a shortage of staffing resources has long been a problem, and that some properties in Aurora go years without being inspected for livability.

The cost of the program, if passed directly onto renters, would have been about $7.29 per rental unit per month, according to a rental rights group following the failed effort to create a legislative fix for the problem. It’s a fee that could be easily absorbed from profits made by property owners. Or, it’s a fee most, if not all, renters would gladly pay to ensure they have heat, plumbing and a place to live not overrun by vermin and filth.

Programs like this have made huge headway in protecting vulnerable renters and cracking down on notorious slumlords in other metro cities."