Council directs mayor's office to expand renter protections, educate tenants on rights

The Albuquerque City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday directing the mayor’s office to hold landlords accountable for the standard of living provided to tenants.

The resolution calls for all rental units to have proper heating and cooling, and for pest infestations, structural hazards, electrical and plumbing issues to be addressed in a timely manner. If action isn’t taken by the landlord, the resolution says a tenant can withhold rent.

The resolution is the latest effort from its sponsor, Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, with the backing of Mayor Tim Keller’s administration, to empower the city’s renters, who account for 34% of the population, according to statistics from the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance.

It follows a previous piece of legislation Fiebelkorn put forth requiring landlords to provide cooling to tenants that passed on a 5-4 vote in December.

“Renter’s rights are human rights, and every tenant in Albuquerque deserves a safe, habitable place to call home,” Keller said in a statement Monday. “Strengthening enforcement to make sure rentals meet basic standards of dignity and safety is a fundamental step toward housing justice.”

The resolution calls for at least one code enforcement staffer to respond to calls and educate tenants on their rights. There are currently three vacancies in the 50-person department.

“This is really my attempt to make sure that the city is providing assistance to folks who need it, who are renters,” Fiebelkorn said. “This is a really quite simple way to do so, we’re just saying that we should prioritize helping renters through the system.”

There have been over 5,000 calls to the city’s 311 line related to housing issues over a three-month period, Kevin Sourisseau, chief financial officer for the Keller administration, told councilors Monday.

While voting in favor of the measure, Council President Brook Bassan expressed concern about the administration’s ability to enforce the policy, citing the vacancies.

“Here we are with legislation that I think has really good intentions, and I really am questioning if we’re going to actually be able to do anything with it,” Bassan said. “I don’t want to take away from the current code enforcement officers. They’re already overworked. They are already working very hard.”

Councilor Dan Champine, who told the Journal back in December that he owns some rental properties himself, expressed support for the measure.

“I want to applaud my fellow councilors’ effort on this. This hits really close to home for me, in the sense that there are a lot of bad apples,” Champine said. “It’s tarnishing the name of good owners, providing wonderful homes for people to live in.”