Council Member Louis introduces bills to strengthen Alternative Enforcement Program

Councilmember Lewis, followed by Nadineowitz.

Thank you, Majority Leader.

Today I'm introducing two pieces of legislation focused on tenant safety, accountability, and advocacy to make major long-needed improvements to the city's Alternative Enforcement Program, also known as AEP,

both by expanding its reach and strengthening the consequences for owners who allow distressed buildings to remain poor in poor condition.

Intro 1086 would expand the scope of AEP by requiring HPD to identify at least 400 distressed buildings each year, doubling the current statutory threshold.

Importantly, at least 100 of these buildings must be properties that were previously discharged from the AEP program but have once again fallen into distress.

The second bill, Intro 1085, addresses the other side of the equation, which is accountability.

It would increase fees for inspections, monitoring, and other HPD actions, establishing minimum fees of $1,000 per dwelling unit.

For building-wide inspections and monitoring along with additional fees when violations remain uncorrected.

Together, these bills give the city more tools to identify distressed properties, bring more buildings under enhanced oversight, and create meaningful financial consequences for owners who fail to correct hazardous housing conditions.

I look forward to...

working with my colleagues, advocates, and the administration to advance these much-needed reforms and strengthen the AEP program as a whole.

Our tenants deserve nothing less than a city government with the tools and enforcement mechanisms necessary to protect them.

I encourage my colleagues to sign on to these bills.

Thank you.