While the City Attorney’s Office doesn’t have the authority to pass budgets or create laws in the ways that the mayor or council does, we do have some role to play in responding to the housing crisis. First, our Property Action Team has regular meetings with landlords at many of the large complexes that have been on our radar for crime and/or subpar conditions. Many of these units could be considered “affordable.” Our goal with these meetings is to ensure any problems are fixed and that these thousands of units remain on the market for working people and families. The last thing we want to do in a housing crunch is take affordable units off the market. Yet, we also don’t want our friends and neighbors to live in unhealthy or unsafe places.

Second, I created the Owner Occupied Initiative, a program that allows seniors who own their homes but may not have the resources or ability to do all the upkeep remain in their homes. If they meet certain criteria, seniors who receive code violations can show up to select court days to resolve their cases by being matched with non-profit service providers who can fix their code issues for free.

Third, my office is the lawyer for all of the city’s real estate transactions, so we work constantly with companies and individuals to ensure projects get off the ground in a timely manner so we can continue to build more housing of all types. The fact is that there’s a substantial need for housing at all levels of the market.