A new rental housing task force in South Bend invites the public to a town hall meeting Thursday. The task force is seeking public input as it studies how other cities are handling the issue.
Portage Township Trustee Jason Critchlow announced forming the task force two months ago. He says they’ve met several times and have been studying how other cities ensure rental housing standards are met.
Critchlow says the task force ultimately will issue a report but Thursday’s 6 p.m. meeting at the downtown library aims to hear from South Bend tenants.
Critchlow says one thing that’s surprised him so far is that other cities have similar rental housing policies as South Bend but they execute them differently.
For example Critchlow says the city of Hammond assigns a rental housing inspector to each common council member.
“Now that seems simple, right?" Critchlow says. "But it’s simple and it’s brilliant because if you’re a active council member and you’re out there meeting with residents, and you’re fielding phone calls and emails and responding to them, you know exactly what’s going on in your neighborhoods and you’re able to communicate that directly with that property inspector. So from a good government standpoint, what an amazing relationship that is to actually get things done and get it done quickly.”
