Quad Cities Tenant Alliance (QCTA) co-chair Gavin Gassmann says the organization has been working to secure tenant protections for the city's nearly 37,000 renters.
"It's very high for any city, but especially a Midwest, somewhat rural city. It's a lot of renters here," Gassmann said in an interview with WVIK News.
Gassmann says the organization has around 500 members, ranging from homeowners to renters in good conditions to members living in what Gassmann refers to as slum conditions.
"No running water. In order to get into the home, they have to climb over broken stairs. Basic safety habitability things. Unfortunately, those problems are pretty severe here in the Quad Cities," Gassmann said.
He says the organization spoke to city officials in Iowa City about their ordinance addressing negligent landlords. In May, during their Housing Justice Community Forum, the alliance agreed that a similar ordinance is necessary for Davenport. The alliance spoke with Davenport city officials and council members, and now the ordinance is being discussed in the chamber.
According to Gassmann, the topic of their discussions with city officials was the potential consequence of letting buildings fall apart and forcing residents to live on the streets. He mentioned the example of Crestwood Apartments not addressing safety issues, which caused the eviction of all the residents back in 2021. He understands the concern that some landlords might decide to close instead of fixing up the property.
However, he says the council members have been receptive to passing a rent abatement ordinance that would provide a buffer for such a decision.
"So what will happen is they've got to get the city inspector in. And the city inspector will order the landlord not to collect rent," Gassmann said. "It's an important distinction. The tenant can't just start doing this on their own. That exposes them to issues with the Iowa law. Iowa law, if you stop paying your rent, you basically forfeit your home. But on the other hand, if the city orders you to stop collecting rent, it orders the landlord to stop collecting rent. Well, then you don't have to pay it. Iowa law accounts for that."
According to the ordinance and the city of Davenport's website, "Rent abatement can only be used when other compliance efforts have failed. At the first inspection, the landlord has 30 days to comply before a re-inspection. At the second re-inspection, rent abatement can be considered but is not automatically applied."
"When people have problems with their landlord, they don't know what to do, a lot of times they'll leave it alone. They'll forget about it," Gassmann said. "They'll dismiss it as that's just the way it is. We really encourage people to reach out to us if they've got problems, and we can help them find better solutions than 'That's just the way it is.'"
The alliance will attend every council meeting to monitor the ordinance's progress and alert the community if any changes are made.
The QCTA is working with Iowa Legal Aid this Thursday, Oct. 10th, with a fair housing training and legal clinic from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Eastern Branch of the Davenport Public Library.
This story was produced by WVIK, Quad Cities NPR. We rely on financial support from our listeners and readers to provide coverage of the issues that matter to the Quad Cities region and beyond. As someone who values the content created by WVIK's news department, please consider making a financial contribution to support our work.
