After months of delays and debate, Houston is considering a new apartment ordinance to identify the city’s worst-performing apartment complexes, this time with a deliberate push for broader community engagement before a final vote.
Council Member Tiffany D. Thomas, chair of the Housing and Affordability Committee, and Mayor Pro Tem Martha Castex-Tatum, chair of the Economic Development Committee, are leading two public meetings designed to gather feedback from tenants and property managers before bringing a revised proposal back to City Council.
The ordinance
Under the ordinance, the properties designated as “high risk” would be placed on a registry and inspected. Landlords who fail to comply could be fined $250 to $2,500 per day, and in extreme cases, they could lose their occupancy certificates.
The ordinance, led by former at-large council member Letitia Plummer and commonly referred to as the Apartment Inspection Ordinance, has faced repeated postponements since late 2025 due to concerns about enforceability and insufficient public input.
According to Thomas, earlier versions stalled because stakeholders said they were not fully involved in the process and because the administration was not prepared to move forward without broader engagement.
“57 to 60% of Houstonians are leaseholders,” Thomas said in an interview, underscoring the scale of residents potentially affected. She described the current strategy as “reverse engineering” the usual policy process by hosting community meetings first, then finalizing ordinance language.
The first meeting, held at the Alief Neighborhood Center, brought together elected officials, city departments, tenants, and landlords in a structured format.
Castex-Tatum said the administration intentionally paired housing and economic development leadership to craft a more comprehensive approach. The goal, she said, is to produce something “beneficial for everyone” while ensuring meaningful community input.
What the ordinance aims to address
On an average day, Houston’s 311 system receives roughly 10 apartment-related complaints about issues such as broken heaters, sewage problems, busted pipes, and other issues.
Between 2020 and 2024, 311 recorded 18,000 complaints categorized as “multifamily habitability violations”.
Under the proposed changes, the city could revive the Apartment Standards Enforcement Committee (ASEC), a 12-member body originally created in 2013 to coordinate responses to substandard multifamily housing.
The updated ordinance would clarify ASEC’s roles and responsibilities and establish criteria for identifying problematic properties.
Complexes ranking in the top five for 311 complaints related to living conditions, along with at least 10 health or safety citations, could fall under its enforcement authority.
Department capacity and enforcement gaps
At the Alief meeting, representatives from several departments outlined their roles in apartment enforcement.
Jim Clark, chief inspector at the Fire Marshal’s office, said the residential team operates on a four-year inspection cycle and handles roughly 500 apartment-related complaints annually, in addition to managing red-tag notifications for fire safety systems.
Thomas said safety concerns are among the most frequent issues residents raise, along with rising rents and deteriorating infrastructure. She also pointed to challenges with absentee landlords.
“Our problem with properties is typically the ones where they’re not in Houston, and they’re not in Texas,” Thomas said. “They’re not a part of our community. So there’s no vested interest in him.”
Castex-Tatum emphasized that accountability mechanisms will differ depending on whether properties receive public funding, noting that compliance tools are stronger when federal, state, or city dollars are involved.
What tenants said
1. Mold and water damage: Tenants described ongoing mold problems, often tied to roof leaks, flooding, hurricanes, plumbing failures, and sewage backups. One resident said the ceiling collapsed after the rain.
2. Sewage backups and flooding: Residents reported raw sewage entering units and remaining for days before drying up.
3. Rodents: Complaints included rats and bats inside walls.
4. Maintenance failures: Tenants mentioned broken gates that never close, poor lighting, detached or unsafe staircases and patios, elevators not working, windows damaged or mold-covered, and appliances like refrigerators not being replaced for months.
5. Crime and safety concerns: Residents cited unsafe living conditions due to crime.
6. Retaliation fears: Tenants expressed fear of retaliation for reporting issues. Some said management refused to release them from leases after complaints and locked out residents (immigrants unfamiliar with their rights).
7. Financial burden of “relief”: Even when landlords offered lease termination, tenants said moving costs effectively discouraged complaints.
8. Change of ownership: Frequent ownership and management changes were described as creating enforcement challenges.
Balancing enforcement and affordability
Houston’s rental market remains tight.
In 2025, the city posted the highest occupancy rate among major Texas cities at 89%, while rents declined only slightly, by 0.8%, according to data cited in the ordinance advisory.
Moreover, city data show that nearly 58% of Houston households are renters.
Council members say enforcement must be balanced with efforts to expand housing supply. Castex-Tatum pointed to the city’s 9% tax credit process and the need to increase affordable housing stock.
“We want to encourage more developers to put those units on the ground so that we won’t have a shortage of our housing stock, which creates that type of competition,” she said.
What’s next?
The next community meeting is scheduled for March 5, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Harris County Department of Education building. It will cover Districts B, C, D, E, H, and I. The first meeting covered districts A, F, G, J, and K.
