Always Looking For More Control

Back when the Oshkosh Common Council was twisting itself into knots trying to come up with a rental housing inspection program that would conform to then state law a couple of years ago, I warned homeowners in another My Two Cents to keep a very close eye on the process.  At the time I predicted that it would be just a matter of time before there would be a push to require all houses to be inspected in Oshkosh as well.  I knew that the argument would be made that "all people have a 'right' to safe housing".  Well, little did I know then that that time would be coming less than a couple of years later.

As the City now twists itself into knots trying to come up with a rental inspection program that conforms to a new state law drafted specifically to defeat the previous rental inspection program requirements, the Rental Housing Advisory Board is pushing for a citywide housing inspection program.  And the argument is that "all people should live under the same expectations of housing quality".  It also gets around the requirement of the new state law to only conduct rental inspections in areas that are deemed "blighted" by the city.  So their idea is to have the City inspect all residences on a regular basis and require homeowners to make any repairs required to bring their buildings up to code--just so it can't be called a "rental inspection program".  (By the way, that is far beyond the purview of this non-elected advisory board and couldn't even come as an official "recommendation" to the Common Council.)

As with the rental inspection program, there is a major problem with access to private property.  Homeowners would retain the right to refuse entry to inspectors--unless they were to come with a court-issued warrant based up suspicion that a crime is or has been committed on the property.  So that would mean the vast majority of those residential inspections would be of the "drive by" nature that made up more than 3/4's of the rental inspections before the change in state law forced those to be put on hold.

The one hope that Oshkosh homeowners have is that the City hasn't figured out yet how to make money on a residential inspection program.  In his monthly visit to WOSH, City Manager Mark Rohloff admitted that the program would be very expensive and require a lot of manpower.  Even if inspectors stood on the sidewalk or the street and only looked at the outside of rental units, they could charge the landlords the full price of a "required inspection".  But to do the same to tens of thousands of homeowners would not sit well with the voters--especially the 99% who keep their homes in conditions that meet all city codes.

Yes, all of this inspection talk is just that--talk.  But those that want more and more control over your life and your property won't rest--so we will just have to nip their efforts in the bud as early as we can.