Important Considerations

Local Context

While the resources provided here are intended to broadly serve as examples to cities, towns, and villages of various sizes and circumstances, it is important to know and understand your local policymaking context. Depending on current factors in your local environment, certain policy options may be more readily available or more appropriate than others.  

A major factor impacting local policymaking is your municipality’s local authority or control. Dillon’s Rule states, for example, limit the ability of cities in those states to enact local legislation unless expressly authorized by state legislation. Other states, in contrast, have provided for home rule, or local control, in an array of fields. To learn more about local authority, check out this resource: NLC Cities 101: Delegation of Power.

Further, in many states, state-level preemption statutes may prevent cities from taking action in certain policy areas (like instituting a rent control policy or requiring that rental properties be licensed) or can set standards for cities to comply with (like state requirements regarding what qualifies as substandard housing). In considering adopting any policy or ordinance, it is essential to understand what your authority is and what may be preempted by state (or federal) law. For more information, check out this preemption resource from ChangeLab Solutions and the NLC Preemption Dashboard (with additional issue areas under development).

Many of the ordinances shared in this Hub refer to applicable state law. It is important for each municipality to consult local legal counsel to determine your own relevant state and local laws; they can help you navigate these requirements.

More Policymaking Resources:

• CityHealth Healthy Rental Housing Policy Action Guide
• NLC Healthy Housing Action Framework
• NLC Cities of Opportunity Policy and Systems Change Compass

About the Policy Categories

This module of the Local Policy Hub considers the following policy categories:

• Rental Registry
• Proactive Rental Inspection
• Performance Based Rental Licensing
• Lead Poisoning Prevention

There are additional policy categories that can help improve health in housing; the categories included in the Hub are considered to be established strategies with strong policy examples.

Many of the policy categories in this module focus on rental housing, as renters are typically more vulnerable to the impacts of poor housing quality and elements outside of their control. In complaint-based programs, for example, tenants may have concerns of retaliation by their landlords when they raise health and safety violations. This focus on rental housing policies does not mean that there aren’t issues in owner occupied homes; there are options for owner occupied housing, such as home repair loan and grant programs, educational outreach and assessment, and access to additional services. It is a goal to expand and update this resource over time.

Several of the policy categories build on each other, with many of the examples having elements of multiple categories. For instance, though the terms licensing and registration can be used interchangeably, in practice and for the purposes of this Hub, rental licensing programs are typically more formal programs that include more robust compliance requirements and enforcement mechanisms than rental registries, which serve primarily as an instrument for data collection and for tracking and reaching property owners. Proactive inspections can be more broadly or more narrowly applied, while performance-based programs offer tiers and incentives for inspection compliance. Finally, while all of the policy categories can contribute to preventing or reducing lead poisoning, some ordinances focus on that outcome more specifically, while others include additional health and safety factors.  

Nature of Sample Policies

How the policies were selected

The project team conducted a review of local ordinances based on knowledge from the field and input from subject matter experts and partners. The ordinances were then assessed using a vetting tool. The tool was informed by a landscape scan about factors that shape the quality and/or fairness of policies; the vetting tool also identified values that underpin the assessment (more detail below). In addition to the ordinance review, the vetting process included research into local government websites, news articles, supporting documents, and implementation resources. The process will continue to be refined in future versions of the Local Policy Hub.

The vetting structure is based upon assessing how well policies demonstrate the following values:

• Fair/Equitable: Helping the people who need it the most, benefiting all, effective community engagement is key to success in addressing this value
• Evidence-based: Have studies been done to show the effectiveness of the strategy? Did the city or town reference that evidence base in the ordinance or implementation documents?
• Impactful: Are there structures and mechanisms in place to ensure the ordinance will have the intended effect, such as an evaluation plan?
• Mitigable: Has consideration been given to how to limit potential unintended consequences?

Further, the vetting process identified key structural pieces that make an ordinance clearer and more effective, including:

• Definitions and Exemptions
• Severability Clause
• Clearly stated purpose
• Establishing the need for the policy

Since not every policy example excels with respect to all of these criteria, we have shared our reasons for including each policy and essential considerations. The strategies highlighted in the Hub can be adapted in cities, towns, and villages of all sizes.

Disclaimer

The information provided herein does not constitute legal advice. Please consult your local legal counsel.