LEWISTON — Stricter code enforcement and demolishing more bad buildings were two options presented to the City Council on Tuesday for improving downtown housing stock.

Councilors discussed changes to the city’s philosophy toward downtown housing and efforts to improve the quality of units available to renters.

City Administrator Ed Barrett said the city would add a new code enforcement officer. Councilors approved the position, paid through Community Development Block Grant money, earlier this spring. Barrett said instead of having the person work strictly as a planning and code employee, the new hire could be a police officer.

“Not only would that person have a background in enforcement, it would help facilitate better cooperation between code employees and the police,” Barrett said.

That person would work more aggressively to target problems downtown. The city’s two current code enforcement officers perform between 500 and 750 inspections per year, but they rely on voluntary compliance from landlords.

The new code employee would work on problems referred by other city staff.

The city would also be more aggressive about demolishing old buildings that are beyond repair. That would include six buildings owned by the city and others in the downtown. Barrett said the city has $300,000 available to help thin its housing supply.

“One issue that consistently comes up in discussions with landlords is the oversupply of housing units in the downtown areas,” Barrett said. “We know that there is a formal 10 percent vacancy rate, but in talking with landlords, they feel it is much higher than that. So one thing that people seem to agree upon, if we can eliminate the worst units that are no longer economical to operate or no longer economical to rehab, this might help that situation.”

The discussion drew a small group of landlords and tenants who offered suggestions. Shanna Rogers of the Visible Community and the Neighborhood Housing League cautioned the city to not eliminate family housing — units with five to seven bedrooms.

“We have housing market needs right now that nobody discusses, but I hear from the new Mainer population,” Rogers said. “They take their families in two- or three-bedroom units, and what they really need is six bedrooms.”

Landlord Chris Aceto said subsidized housing is a problem for landlords. They find that they cannot offer rents low enough to compete with subsidized units. 

Landlord Sean Watkins of LA Property Management said landlords have other issues that make it difficult, including higher costs for pest control, city fees and trash service costs, and aggressive code enforcement.

“We manage a lot of property for people who were never in bad financial position before and who now are,” he said. “People who in their wildest dreams never thought they would be in that position now are. And it’s due to all the pressures we’ve all discussed.”

Barrett said councilors would discuss the housing issue again at a regular public hearing, likely sometime in July. Councilors said they like most of the proposed changes and encouraged the city to create a new housing group to look at landlord and tenant issues.

But Councilor Stephen Morgan, noting this was a problem in cities across Maine, urged caution. Aggressive code enforcement can hurt good landlords running low on cash.

“He has two properties that are vacant, and he’s not getting paid on another rent and he’s behind and still trying to make his mortgage payment,” Morgan said. “He’s going to say, ‘Here’s the keys.’ And now the city has another vacant property and we can go ahead and pay to fix the porch. That’s what I’m afraid is going to happen.”

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