By Adam Swift
Several city councilors are asking city officials to take a closer look at how illegal boarding houses are identified and handled.
At last week’s meeting, councilors Paul Argenzio, Joanne McKenna, and Angela Guarino-Sawaya introduced a motion asking that the mayor request a representative from inspectional services appear before the council to discuss the rooming house ordinance and the methods used to identify illegal rooming houses and enforcement procedures.
“I know that residents call up and say they suspect (an illegal rooming house) on their street and the inspectional services department is tasked with trying to prove it,” said Argenzio. “I know that is frustrating sometimes and maybe the council can do something to help them in that effort.”
Argenzio said there is a process that when a potential issue is notified, the building owners are notified and often have the property cleaned up before an inspection is made.
“This is a really sad situation in our city,” said McKenna. “Landlords are getting away with running illegal rooming houses. I know I have one next door to me that has to have 13 to 15 people with about seven cars.”
McKenna said she knows the city can only do so much, since it takes 30 days to go into a property where there is a suspected violation.
“When I asked a Revere police officer what was his biggest fear on the job, he said walking into an illegal rooming house,” said McKenna. “By adding illegal rooming houses to the AirBnB software, we will be able to track people who are advertising these rooms and eliminate houses being used for this purpose.”
Guarino-Sawaya said there is an issue with the illegal boarding houses in her ward in the Point of Pines.
“Luckily, I have someone I call upon all the time to help me, and they are really good with the city,” she said. “But there should be other ways to try to track them. It is important for us to try to understand how many they have currently identified and the enforcement measures that are in place. Sometimes they are a little too difficult to follow, and what happens is it is like a lengthy process and by the time you get to where you are supposed to be, they have already cleaned up everything … and you don’t see what has actually happened there and the residents are complaining.”
Guarino-Sawaya said the city should be taking proactive measures to help identify potential problem properties, such as tracking when utility rates spike or keeping track of absentee owners.
“It’s really important that we should discuss with all these department heads that will be able to help us with these illegal rooming houses and maybe find a way for residents to feel comfortable reporting it as well,” she said.
