Open in App
  • Local
  • U.S.
  • Election
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Education
  • Real Estate
  • Newsletter
  • Nevada Current

    Segerblom wants county empowered to take over unsafe apartment properties

    By Michael Lyle,

    1 day ago
    https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3ca20q_0v5AAHuV00

    Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom told Nevada Current the county would have the authority to “take it over and become the landlord” of unsafe apartment complexes, but only temporarily until issues are resolved. After that, the county would either “turn it back over to the owner or we could turn around and sell it.” (Photo: Jeniffer Solis/Nevada Current)

    Clark County commissioners want legislation that would give them more teeth when dealing with property owners who neglect to fix their deteriorating apartment properties.

    Though the proposal wasn’t included in the list of bill draft requests approved by County Commissioners during Tuesday’s meeting, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom said he is reaching out to state lawmakers to get legislation sponsored to protect tenants and hold landlords responsible when properties are allowed to fall into disrepair.

    He suggested a bill would allow the county to use court-appointed, “third party receiverships” that could take over running apartments that have become unsafe for tenants.

    Later Tuesday, Segerblom told Nevada Current that he envisions the county having the authority to “take it over and become the landlord” but only temporarily until issues are resolved. After that, the county would either “turn it back over to the owner or we could turn around and sell it.”

    He wasn’t sure how many properties in Southern Nevada were neglected to the point of putting tenants’ health and safety at risk, but said it’s a growing problem.

    “There have been several incidents in the last few years … with apartment buildings having issues with fire safety and building safety, where there are serious issues with health and safety of the tenants,” Joanna Jacob, Clark County’s government affairs manager, told commissioners during the meeting.

    Segerblom pointed to Apex Apartments on Twain Avenue and Cambridge Street as one property that deteriorated due to neglect from the property owner.

    The complex has received scrutiny from the county in recent years for egregious living conditions, code violations and operating without a business license.

    The main recourse the county has when a complex fails to meet health and safety standards is to shut it down.

    But that course could leave tenants without homes as Southern Nevada, like most of the country, faces a shortage of affordable housing units, Segerblom said.

    Segerblom noted that in some jurisdictions in the U.S. local governments are authorized to “go in and create a receivership” that allows the court or a third-party to run apartments “and get it back up to code” or try to at least mitigate safety issues until tenants can find another place to live.

    Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson agreed with Segerblom and noted the county has dealt with another 600-unit property that had “dead cats in an empty pool, rats everywhere.”

    “It’s 600 units and people are being exposed to that,” he said. “It’s supposed to not only be affordable but livable. It’s neither.”

    Clark County Commissioner Marlyin Kirkpatrick said the county needs “some kind of teeth to get after the bad actors” adding it costs the county money when having to address fire and safety issues that result from hazardous conditions.

    “It’s vital for governments to have the ability to hold unscrupulous landlords accountable, otherwise the burden falls on social services,” Jonathan Norman, the policy director with the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers , told Nevada Current.

    The idea wasn’t on the official list of proposals approved by commissioners to become legislative priorities.

    The country is using the four bill draft requests the county is assigned to look at other administrative priorities.

    Jacob said that includes a “bill to remove a sunset on job order contracting” and creating a victim database with the office of emergency management “for the purposes of reunification of victims if anything should happen again by the hospitals.”

    Commissioners had mulled several proposals at recent meetings ahead of the Sept. 1 deadline to submit bill draft requests to the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

    They originally contemplated legislation to authorize the use of automated red light cameras – something state lawmakers have discussed during the legislative interim – and a bill to help them address the number of abandoned recreational vehicles throughout Clark County.

    Other lawmakers are expected to carry proposals addressing those issues, freeing the county up to direct its limited number of bill draft requests to other topics, commissioners were told.

    Expand All
    Comments / 0
    Add a Comment
    YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
    Most Popular newsMost Popular

    Comments / 0