The City of Houston now has an updated, enforceable Apartment Inspection Ordinance, and it is all because of the hard work and unbreakable spirit of the community.
After many years and several iterations, on May 6, Houston City Council passed the Apartment Inspection Ordinance, developing a system where bad actor landlords who are repeat offenders can now be held accountable for poor living conditions forced upon their renters.
The ordinance will establish a program for properties that are consistently violating health and safety building code regulations. The repeat offending properties, who would receive at minimum 10 violation citations in 6 months, will be added to a registry, and the City’s code violations departments will work closely with them to ensure the violations can be remediated in a timely manner, ensuring that renters can live free of contamination and hazardous conditions. All of this information will be tracked publicly on the city’s website, with violators showing their progress online. Helpful resources for tenants seeking assistance will also be offered on this website as referenced in the ordinance language.
Additionally, the ordinance also calls for a visible posting at every multi-family property of the property’s Certificate of Occupancy and a statement reminding tenants to call 311 to report code violations. Though more details are needed regarding a date of when this would become a mandatory rule and on the rollout of how the city will inform multi-family property owners about this requirement, we do believe this is a step in the right direction to empower tenants to report code violations to the City’s appropriate channels.
While the concept of the Apartment Inspection Ordinance was bubbling for years prior, the public was finally able to see draft language a year ago during the Proposition A Committee on May 27, 2025 where it passed unanimously out of the committee.
The passage of this ordinance only comes after a year of dedication and input from tenants, property owners, and advocates. While there were questions about the explicit language in the ordinance and the mechanism by which it would operate, there was always consensus of this need. City council members around the horseshoe know the deplorable conditions of some of these multifamily apartment complexes and want to ensure their constituents aren’t subject to dangerous conditions. There were times when the Apartment Inspection Ordinance was in doubt of making it to a vote. However, the consistent driving force behind this idea becoming policy was the community.
We at Texas Housers are so proud to work beside Houstonians who fought tirelessly for true accountability for bad actor landlords and now have the Apartment Inspection Ordinance in their hands. It goes to show that our community members should have a right to a say in the rules and regulations that govern their health, housing quality, and quality of life.
What comes next for the Ordinance?
First, The Apartment Standards Enforcement Committee (ASEC) will form. This body will consist of staff members from each of the departments that address code violations, including the Health department, the Fire department, and the Public Works department, to name a few. There will also be representation from a tenant and a property owner on the Committee.
Next, the city has stated this ordinance will initially run a full year pilot program, working with the top 12 properties with the highest number of code violations. These properties will register for the program and begin going through the process of remediating their code violations and improving living conditions. City Council Member Tiffany D. Thomas has asked for them to consider raising that number up to 25 and also to add new properties into the program as those registered come into compliance and complete the program, thus opening a new slot. We hope to hear recurring updates from the ASEC and city government about the status of this pilot program throughout the year.
After the 12 month period is reached, the program will be evaluated. So while this is a major victory for the community, the work is not done. During this time, if you have thoughts, feelings, or ideas about any of the process above or what is to come, stay engaged, reach out to your elected officials to tell them your thoughts, sign up for public comment at city hall, keep asking questions and speaking up!
Housing is the most foundational facet of our lives, impacting our physical and mental health, financial stability, economic opportunities, and overall quality of life. Access to a healthy home should be the Houston standard. The hard work that Texas Housers put into this effort, alongside deep commitments from local elected officials such as Mayor Pro-Tem Martha Castex-Tatum and Councilwoman Tiffany D. Thomas — all of it was driven by the community’s right to have a say in how their government takes action. We cannot thank the Houston community members enough for setting the example of what democracy in action looks like.
