Stop Slums Before They Can Take Root

The Los Angeles City Council, by an impressive 11 to 1, has voted to require routine housing inspections of every building with two or more apartments and to hire 80 more inspectors as part of a special enforcement unit to get the job done. This reform of a long-neglected city responsibility should reduce an epidemic of slum housing and preserve rental stock by finding problems earlier and forcing landlords to make repairs.

Under the current system, a tenant must complain to the city’s lax and overwhelmed Department of Building and Safety, which is not likely to be speedy about responding. Negligent landlords knew that they could safely ignore major problems such as rodent infestations, stopped-up toilets, leaking roofs, broken windows and deteriorating floors, because even if inspectors came they often would not follow up on violations.

Under the new program, tenants will no longer need to complain first to prompt an inspection. The plan calls for inspection of all apartments in the expectation that the routine and random checkups will catch problems before they can fester and spread.

The council has proposed that the inspections be funded by a $1-a-month tenant surcharge. That is a low and fair price to ensure safe living conditions.

The real movers on this crisis have been the members of the mayor’s Blue Ribbon Citizens’ Committee on Slum Housing, including such standouts as UCLA law professor Gary Blasi and the Rev. Donald P. Merrifield, chancellor of Loyola Marymount University. Their report, issued in July, indicted a lack of building code, health and safety enforcement and criticized the performance of the Department of Building and Safety. The document echoed the finding of Times staff writer Hector Tobar that unlivable housing conditions were spreading unchecked.

The City Council’s proposal deserves the support of Mayor Richard Riordan and should be implemented as quickly as possible, before any more apartments turn into slums.