A safe and healthy home is the foundation for a thriving community. Everyone in Columbus deserves a safe place to live regardless of the color of their skin or how much money they have. However, the rent is higher than ever, and wages aren't keeping up. The lack of quality affordable housing in our town forces more Columbus renters into unsafe homes with issues like:

• Mold 🦠
• Pests, bugs, mice 🐜
• Water leaks 💧
• Exposed electrical systems 🔌
• Broken ACs in the summer 🥵
• Broken furnaces in the winter 🥶

Columbus families right now are getting sick from mold, and forced to go without AC in the hottest summer on record because of a few greedy landlords who put profit over people. Unmaintained rental properties cause health damage like asthma, burns, and falls and psychological distress. Children in low-quality housing have more emotional and behavioral problems at school and poorer academic performance. The lack of quality, affordable housing threatens the health and future of our community. 

While most landlords in our community uphold quality standards and provide well-maintained housing, a few bad actors who value profit over safe homes get away with violating basic legal safety standards. They know renters are in a bind, often with nowhere else to go, and threaten eviction if tenants speak up. 

 To ensure safe homes for all Columbus residents, and that nobody is above the law—no tenant, no landlord—
Columbus needs a Rental Inspection Program. 

• Currently, inspections only happen when a tenant calls with a complaint. A rental inspections program sets up regular inspections so that all rental properties are inspected every few years for minimum safety standards.
• Good landlords whose rentals pass inspection would be inspected less frequently, while landlords whose rentals fail inspection would be inspected more frequently, rewarding good landlords and penalizing bad ones.
• 13 Indiana cities/towns already have a rental inspections program: South Bend, Bloomington, West Lafayette, New Albany, Goshen, Munster, Clarksville, Lebanon, Vincennes, Whitestown, Winona Lake, Aurora, Union City

Sign and share our digital postcard to support the effort to get a rental inspection program in Columbus! You can also reach out to stephanie@hoosieraction.org if you would like physical postcards or to learn more.