Cities around the country are retaliating against slumlords by giving them a dose of their own medicine, making them live in the same units that they won’t fix up.
When landlords persistently ignore building code violations such as rat infestations and faulty plumbing, they can be forced to sleep in their own apartments, according to ordinances adopted in New York City, Cleveland and Los Angeles. Ordinances are proposed in several cities across the country, including San Francisco.
In Chicago, the City Council has adopted regulations allowing for huge signs to be posted on buildings where repeated violations have been found, signs which declare the property a nuisance and attempt to shame owners.
The idea behind the bad landlord regulations is to give property owners a personal incentive to fix their units faster. Landlords who consistently ignore building code violations often will pay fines and fight building inspectors in the courts.
Tenant activists for decades have tried to come up with solutions to the problem of slumlords. The courts have backed them up through fines, jail time and civil suits.
One major step is treating the violations as more than just infractions, which are equivalent to a parking violation.
![Illinois is now home to a federally recognized tribal nation after the U.S. Department of the Interior placed portions of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation into trust, according to a statement Friday from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The federal government illegally auctioned off 1,280 acres of the Prairie Band’s reservation land 175 years ago. At the time, Chief Shab-eh-nay had been traveling from his home reservation in DeKalb County to visit his family in Kansas, the Nation said. “We have been asking for this recognition and for what is rightfully ours for nearly 200 years, and we are grateful to the U.S. Department […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CTC-L-Potawatomi-Nation-land.jpg?w=575 "Illinois is now home to a federally recognized tribal nation after the U.S. Department of the Interior placed portions of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation into trust, according to a statement Friday from the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation. The federal government illegally auctioned off 1,280 acres of the Prairie Band’s reservation land 175 years ago. At the time, Chief Shab-eh-nay had been traveling from his home reservation in DeKalb County to visit his family in Kansas, the Nation said. “We have been asking for this recognition and for what is rightfully ours for nearly 200 years, and we are grateful to the U.S. Department […]")