Within one week, after CTPOA’s efforts to expose how the process of investigating discrimination complaints has fallen out of balance, our focus shifted from Fair Housing to Property Maintenance. The Fair Housing issue is far from over and a follow-up meeting with CHRO Vice Commissioner Sheryl Sharp, Housing Co-Chair State Representative Larry Butler and CTPOA president Bob DeCosmo is scheduled for October 11th, another important issue is now impacting Connecticut Property Owners and demanding attention.
With the formation of a new “Working Group” led by Supervisory Housing Prosecutor Judith Dicine in collaboration with the State Department of Public Health, a group of interested parties has been convened to look into whether Connecticut should implement a Statewide Property Maintenance Code. The purpose for such a working group is to research the pros and cons of such a statewide code.
On September 29, approximately two dozen individuals, many from code-enforcement showed up at the office of the Chief State’s Attorney in Rocky Hill for a two hour meeting to decide if Connecticut should implement the International Code Council 2015 Property Maintenance Code.
The CT Apartment Association was represented by their lobbyist John Bailey, Government Affairs committee members Dan Lax and Attorney Robert Chesson, while CTPOA members David Habberfeld and Bob DeCosmo attended the meeting. The next meeting is set for November 2 at 9:30 and John Bailey and Bob DeCosmo will be in attendance at a sub-group that is tasked with dissecting the code to see what if anything must be changed to account for Connecticut’s aging housing stock.
