Local officials enforce housing ordinance
Households are to have no more than three or four unrelated tenants.
Published Oct. 13, 2009
Landlords in Columbia are required to have no more than three or four unrelated tenants to a household depending on city zoning, a city of Columbia zoning ordinance states.
According to zoning map found on the city of Columbia's Web site, most of the off-campus housing in Columbia is in the zoning districts R-1 and PUD 1-5, which are single-family units. R-1 zones are for single-family development and PUD is the acronym for Planned Unit Development.
Chapter 29-2 definitions of the city ordinance states a family is a single parent or married couple with children and no more than two unrelated persons or a group of no more than three unrelated persons living in a single-family unit.
"Single-family zoning is typically what you think of typical housing," Neighborhood Response Coordinator Bill Cantin said. "When we refer to an R1, single-family residential neighborhood, we're talking about houses with families, not apartments or duplexes."
Cantin also said there are some subdivisions with different housing types mixed in and therefore multi-zoned. Situations in East Campus can be more complex because houses are so close together with very limited parking.
"The general idea is to maintain R1 zoning as a family-oriented neighborhood," Neighborhood Services Building Inspector Brenda Canaday said.
Cantin said the purpose of the ordinance is not to discriminate against student renters but simply to keep neighborhoods family friendly in a college town.
"We're not interested in making people homeless," he said. "A lot of times this comes as complete surprise to the tenants especially, which is why we're going to be real flexible."
Canaday also said because there are approximately 22,617 registered rental units in Columbia, there are no protective inspectors walking from door to door counting the number of people living in a unit. Instead, violators are usually reported to one of the police stations in the form of a complaint, which is then passed on to the Neighborhood Services office.
Columbia Police Department officer Tim Thomason said people don't typically complain because there are too many people but because other crime-related issues are occurring in the neighborhood.
Thomason also said complaints are usually quality of life driven, such as frequent peace disturbances or regular parties.
"I would guess there are houses where people are in violation but nobody even knows," Cantin said. "The thing with the cars parking in the street, I swear it alerts everybody. It drives people crazy."
Thomason said if protective inspectors were unable to investigate, they'd ask CPD to make contact and gather information. Usually, the investigation will consist of tenant and neighbor interviews, running license plates on the cars parked in front of residences, checking the names on the utilities accounts, running background checks and asking the landlord for the lease contracts.
Canaday or Cantin would then send a notice to the landlord stating it is in violation of the city's ordinance. Once notified, the landlord and the tenant will work out the living arrangements together.
Cantin said the city allows the extra tenant(s) to find a new housing arrangement within a reasonable amount of time.
"It's usually not that you need to go tomorrow and put your stuff out in the street, if they have signed leases, it's usually by the end of the semester," Cantin said. "We work with the owners and the tenants and the people in the neighborhood to come to a resolution."
If the tenant or landlord does not comply with the notice, Canaday said she has the option to take the violator to court and prosecute.