Video: Louisville Considers Rental Housing Ordinance

[bitsontherun 6jQVPqaf]LOUISVILLE, Miss. – (WCBI) The city of Louisville is hoping to join New Albany and Tupelo in crafting a rental housing ordinance.

There is an effort aimed at setting the bar high, by informing both owners and renters of their responsibilities.

“Owners of rental property who are not nearby or they do not have anyone here to handle an issue that we maybe facing, maybe a code violation. It may be something to do with solid waste. But the effort is in essence to again as much information as we can about who is the responsible party for issues that we may be seeing in the city,” said Mayor Will Hill.

The idea is to prevent or correct slum and blighted living conditions while protecting the health and safety of the entire community.

“But we want to benefit those that own the property as well as protect those that are renting property. In addition to this a secondary effort is to hold those that have property, own property and want to rent it, they keep it up to standards,” said Hill.

 Island Plaza which is now Revival Apartments has seen improvements over the years.

 “We wouldn’t want anyone renting a house in Louisville that possibly didn’t have heat, or was not an adequate home to live in. We want to make sure everybody is up to a standard of living,” said Hill.

Louisville Mayor and Board of Alderman are expected to discuss the rental housing ordinance at their Tuesday meeting at 5:30 p.m.  Tupelo’s ordinance has been in place for four years, New Albany this year.

Officials in both towns say it is going well.