LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Tuesday night, Little Rock directors looked at the city's renter policies and discussed how they can be improved.
The conversation was more than an hour long, but at the end, they talked about possible solutions.
Crystal Alexander Berry and her husband, Amuntric Berry, attended the meeting. They lived in a Little Rock apartment complex for five years. In that time, they dealt with unsafe living conditions such as flooding and mold.
"Numerous times, it got neglected," Crystal Berry said. "We did bring that issue up to the [property owners] more than once, and they neglected the issue."
The Little Rock directors are now trying to figure out how to alleviate these problems for renters.
There are 50,000 registered rental units in Little Rock. Each year, 20%, or 10,000, of those properties are supposed to be inspected.
So far this year, only 2,210 units have been inspected.
"How do we keep ownership from changing hands when the apartments are in such bad shape?" Little Rock Director Andrea Lewis said.
After discussion, Housing and Neighborhood Programs Assistant Director Brian Contino listed some ways they are trying to make inspections better.
Contino mentioned the following:
- Getting better software
- Looking at how to add more staffing
- Continuing training for inspections.
"We are searching to determine what software could work best for us," Contino said. "We do have a meeting tomorrow with a company, so we are hoping by the end of November to have something in place for our officers to start using."
If you would like your rental inspected, you can reach city inspectors by dialing 3-1-1.