After years of stalled progress and mounting safety concerns inside Houston’s aging apartment complexes, a long-awaited ordinance aimed at strengthening enforcement against dangerous living conditions moved one step closer to passage, but not without sharp disagreement inside the City Council.
The proposed ordinance, championed by Councilmember Letitia Plummer and shaped by a councilmember-approved charter amendment known as Proposition A, would give the city stronger authority to intervene in chronically unsafe apartment complexes. Plummer, who is running for Harris County judge, was replaced by lawyer Alejandra Salinas, who won the runoff election for the At-large Position 4 seat on Dec. 13.
The measure, formally known as the Houston Multi-Family Habitability Code, would allow Houston to designate “high-risk” properties, impose mandatory repair timelines, conduct follow-up inspections, and penalize landlords who repeatedly fail to correct hazardous conditions.
It called for the creation of an Apartment Standards Enforcement Committee (ASEC), a cross-departmental task force comprising representatives from the city’s Police, Fire, Health, Housing, Solid Waste, and City Attorney departments, as well as a representative property owner and tenant, to coordinate how Houston handles substandard properties.
Council members weigh in
Council members across districts described conditions that they said have persisted for years, including fires in neglected buildings, broken smoke detectors, rodent infestations, mold, a lack of air conditioning, and units left unsecured after prior emergencies.
“This particular document gives the city the ability to intervene before a tragedy occurs. It creates high-risk designation, mandatory corrective timelines, documented repairs and follow-up inspections…real tangible penalties for landlords who are repeatedly doing the wrong thing to our residents.”
Councilmember Letitia Plummer
“This particular document gives the city the ability to intervene before a tragedy occurs,” Plummer told colleagues. “It creates high-risk designation, mandatory corrective timelines, documented repairs and follow-up inspections…real tangible penalties for landlords who are repeatedly doing the wrong thing to our residents. It protects tenants without raising rents, which is obviously something that we want when it comes to affordable housing.”
Despite broad agreement on the need for action, the council stopped short of voting on the ordinance. Instead, after a prolonged and at times tense debate, members voted to send the proposal back to the administration for further review by the Economic Development and Housing committees, with a requirement that it return to council within 30 days of the committee meeting.
Mayor John Whitmire said that the issue was urgent but emphasized the need for additional stakeholder engagement before final approval.
“There is a proposal that has been drafted that hasn’t had public comments,” Whitmire said. “I personally think it would be beneficial not to delay it with a commitment from me that will expedite it.”
Citing a recent apartment fire in her district involving a complex already subject to enforcement action, Councilmember Abbie Kamin said that it was not the first time residents encountered such conditions.
“We learned it was the same apartment complex that we had filed a Chapter 125 [Building Standards Code] against,” Kamin said. “In two months, it was the third. The smoke detectors had not gone off. There were little children who had run out with the fire and actually ran back in to start knocking on doors to wake up grandparents to get them out. The fact that nobody died is a miracle.”
Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz highlighted the scale of the problem citywide, noting that Houston has one of the highest poverty rates among major U.S. cities (21.2%).
“Thirty-one percent of our children in Houston live in poverty, and these are the people that are living in apartment complexes, often those that are neglected, and I believe it’s our role as council members, and you’ve certainly led this charge,” Evans-Shabazz said. “We pulled the 311 data over the last year of apartments. It’s appalling. Almost 5,000 complaints. Rats, mold, roaches, no heat, no air.”
Echoing those concerns, Councilmember Tarsha Jackson noted that in District B, more than 60% of residents reside in rental housing.
“We have a lot of bad landlords,” Jackson said. “This ordinance is really going to give the residents, give the city, a tool to hold these landlords accountable.”
A heated back-and-forth
Plummer acknowledged frustration with the delay but ultimately agreed to the referral after securing a firm timeline. The debate grew more heated as she pressed for a specific commitment to bring the ordinance back quickly.
“We understand the urgency,” Whitmire said before the vote.
He also implied that the reason behind the proposal’s gaps and lack of community input was Plumer’s campaign.
“I’m sorry that you’ve been busy on the campaign trail, that we couldn’t always have the product,” Whitmire said.
“Mayor, don’t be ugly,” Plummer replied immediately, asking Whitmiire to apologize.
With committee hearings expected in January, housing advocates and residents will be watching closely to see whether Houston finally delivers stronger protections for renters living in unsafe conditions.
