CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charlotte leaders say they are working to force the city’s slumlords to fix their properties by using the minimum housing code. Back in 2019, Charlotte City Council revised the minimum housing code to increase fines for landlords who let code violations pile up. Leaders increased the fine from $10 per day to $100 per day, but that didn’t solve the problem completely. Last month, residents from Tanglewood Apartments and Lamplighter Inn spoke at the city council public forum to explain the horrible living conditions and treatment they experienced at their homes. The city says property owners at Lamplighter and Tanglewood let code enforcement violations and fines pile up. “I definitely think it’s more visible now because of the increased housing prices that we see across our city and because we see this influx of out-of-town investors,” Council member Victoria Watlington, Chair of the Housing, Safety, and Community Committee said. Eventually, tenants were forced out of Tanglewood and Lamplighter because of unsafe conditions. Right now, there are thousands of open code enforcement violations across the city. The majority are solved within 200 days, but some are never resolved. “That data is heartbreaking to see all of those numbers, to see all of those cases that are stagnant, that have been there for decades and over and over and over again,” Council member Tiawana Brown from the Housing, Safety and Community Committee said. City staff have been combing through the minimum housing code that lays out the standard landlords must follow. Their goal is to increase penalties for landlords who fail to fix violations. The current city code allows for “in rem repairs”, which means the city can hire a contractor to fix the necessary repairs and then put a lien on the property and force the owner to pay up. “It’s primarily a policy problem of not using the tools that we already have in the code in a timely fashion to help residents that are suffering in very bad conditions that could be repaired by the city in a faster process,” Ted Fillette, Housing Advocate and volunteer with OneMeck said. City staff say they plan to use Lamplighter and Tanglewood as case studies for what went wrong. “It sounds good on paper. Putting it into action, that is the challenge. You write up all this good policy, but does it get implemented?,” Council member Brown asked. Throughout January and February, city staff will be collecting feedback from the community and stakeholders to recommend policy changes to council. Council members say they hope tenants stay engaged in the process. “A lot of times when people leave and they are no longer a part of the process, those things fall by the wayside and then they have to come back when there’s a huge problem,” Council member Watlington said. The full council would still have to vote to make policy changes.