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thatparticipatedinthisstudy,nonehadanyexplicitinstructionsforpermanentrevocationwritteninto <br />therentallicenseordinance. <br />Challenges <br />Staffing <br />Thecitiesinterviewedwereaskedaboutchallengestheyhavefacedinimplementingandadministering <br />arentallicenseprogram.Theprimarychallengecitedbymostcitiesconcernedstaffing.Arentallicense <br />programthatrequiresscheduledinspectionssubstantiallyincreasesthenumberofinspections <br />conductedbycitystaff.Noneofthecitiesinterviewed,withtheexceptionofthetwothatuseoutside <br />inspectors,expressedsatisfactionwiththeircurrentstaffinglevels.Manycitiescrosstraindepartmental <br />stafftohelpwithhousinginspectionsduringpeaktimes. <br />Onecity,CoonRapids,doesenlistthehelpofprivatehousinginspectorsonacontractbasisduringpeak <br />timesaswell.Thetwocitiesthatdependonoutsideinspectorsforalloftheirinspections,WestSaint <br />PaulandLittleCanada,maintainalistofcertifiedhousinginspectorsthatpropertyownersmustuseto <br />conducttheirregularlyscheduledinspections.Thepropertyownerpaystheinspectordirectlyand,the <br />inspectorthenprovidesareporttoboththecityandthepropertyowner.Inthesecases,thecityfollows <br />upwithcorrectionordersforanypropertiesreportedtohavecodeviolations.Theseprivateinspectors <br />arealsoresponsibleforreinspectionstoensurecompliancewiththecitycorrectionorder. <br />TheCityofRochestermaintainsastrictscheduleforinspectionsinordertoensurethatcomplaintbased <br />inspectionsarenotbeingneglected.HousinginspectorsconductinspectionsMondaythroughThursday <br />andrespondtocomplaintsfromresidentsonFridays,unlesstheproblemislifethreateninginwhich <br />casetheyrespondassoonaspossible. <br />Mostcitiesstatedthatrespondingtocomplaintsfromresidentsrequirestriagingofcomplaints.This <br />usuallyentailsfollowingupwithcomplaintsbyphonetodetermineifacodeviolationexistsandifit <br />does,whetheritwarrantsimmediatefollowuporinvolvementfromthehealthdepartment.This <br />triagingsystemallowsinspectorstobettermanagetimeandresources. <br />Costs <br />Asmentione <br />dinprevioussections,themajorityofthecitiesthatparticipatedinthisstudydonot <br />recuperatethecostsofadministeringtheirrentallicenseprograms.Citiesstruggletomaintainabalance <br />betweenaffordabilityforlandlordsandcoveringtheirowncosts. <br />ResistancefromLandlords <br />Allofthecitiesthatparticipateddescribedtheprocessthroughwhichtheysolicitedcommunity <br />feedbackregardingthepossibilityofimplementingarentallicensingprogram.Mostusedopencity <br />councilmeetingstoallowcommunitymemberstoprovidefeedback.Inmostcases,landlordswere <br />14 <br /> <br />