2 days ago
City council approves funding for rental inspection pilot program
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.- An amendment was made at city council Monday night that shifts the money that would be used to renovate the lobby of Busch Building for a new program.
This program would provide rental inspections across the city.
'We need a rental licensing and inspection program because everybody deserves a healthy home and not all rentals in Springfield are healthy or safe right now,' said Sarah Barnts, the tenant union network organizer for Springfield Tenants Unite.
Council Bill 2025-108 originally gave over $400,000 to renovate the Busch Building.
'It seems as though the budget we have before us is prioritizing the aesthetic need over the functional need,' said Councilman Brandon Jenson.
Jenson presented an amendment to that bill at Monday night's council meeting.
'I move that Council Bill 2025-108 be amended by deleting $458,342 from the Busch Municipal Building first floor renovation project and adding $458,342 to reserves for potential use in a rental inspection program,' Jenson proposed.
Mayor Jeff Schrag was the only one who voted against the amendment. When it came time to pass the full bill, it passed unanimously.
'We know that there's an affordable housing shortage,' Barnts said. 'And so we need to preserve the current stock, that we have to stop us from losing even more.'
Barnts says she goes door-to-door canvassing and has met several people who struggle with faulty electric and mold.
'We want the city to enforce the law,' Barnts said. 'Healthy homes, habitable conditions are the law and there's not an enforcement mechanism for that right now.'
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