[Mpls] Forte takes over Reg Svcs

[Gregory D. Luce]

M.G. Stinnett wrote:

What's interesting about Rocco Forte taking over Regulatory Services is
that 
he's now in charge of a department--housing inspections--that he a)
raided for jobs, a violation of labor law which is still in grievance
process and b) he said he wanted to take for the fire department
altogether.

Me:

I don't know much about the labor grievance, so won't comment on that,
but I do know that the fire department--in order to save many of its
jobs--took over major aspects of housing inspections.

Though not something generally well known, the Fire Department has
already taken over the duty to inspect all rental properties with 4 or
more units (except most Section 8 properties and all of the MPHA
properties).  Such an approach essentially mirrors the approach in St.
Paul, where fire inspects larger multi-unit buildings and another
department (headed by former Rep. Andy Dawkins), inspects the smaller
single-family and 2-3 unit rental properties.

That said, I'm not sure how well the transition from inspections
division to fire department is working out here in Minneapolis.  That
is, there are stories now of real rocky times.  One, the fire department
simply is not set up well at this point to handle the volume of
complaints, which are still taken at the intake line (673-5858) and
subsequently sent to one of the 109 Fire Captains, depending on the
location of the rental property.

Two, given the volume of the complaints and the lack of trained
resources at this time, fire inspectors are calling the tenant back and,
depending on the circumstances, not even inspecting.  Worse, there may
not be adequate or any documentation of the complaint (or no inspection
if none occurs) and we have received cases where the fire inspector
calls the landlord first instead of the tenant, leading to potential
retaliation without the crucial documentation of the tenant's call to
inspections occurring in the first place.

Finally, and perhaps more importantly, there will be a steep learning
curve for some of the fire inspectors to relearn what was
institutionally lost in the transition.  For instance, many housing
inspectors had learned about and had accepted the city-initiated TRA
strategy as a viable legal approach to compel repairs in many
substandard properties.  I'm not sure how amenable fire inspectors will
be to the TRA process, though the attorney with Fire knows the process
well and should be able to have some significant influence.

We're also concerned about gains that were made to incorporate
lead-based paint concerns in repair issues (for example, where a
landlord is cited for peeling and deteriorating paint) will be lost in
the transition as well.  JoAnn Velde in housing inspections had been a
true leader in trying to bridge the rather unnatural dichotomy between
lead-paint problems and housing inspection issues.  She still remains a
leader with the smaller unit rentals, but not sure what commitment will
be there in Fire and what priority will be given to this issue--which
has far greater impact on poor families and their children, most of whom
are children of color.  As we always seem to be asking "who loses in the
change?"  Word is still out on this one.
 
Perhaps one of the inspectors or those involved in the process can
provide more detail, as it's been frustrating for some tenant advocates
to figure out what is going on.  It would also be good to hear from
landlords on the list to determine how they perceive the transition,
which is probably one of the biggest bureaucratic changes going on in
City Hall today.

Gregory Luce
Project 504 (Jordan)
Residing in St. Paul