Strengthening Renters’ Rights Through State and Local Advocacy For Stronger Habitability Protections

6/11/2025

Agenda

1. Welcome and Overview of Code Enforcement Procedures: Nada Hussein, National Low Income Housing Coalition
2. Local Spotlight: Enacting Stronger Habitability Procedures in Colorado: Spencer Bailey, Senior Staff Attorney and Appellate Program Supervisor, Community Economic Defense Project
3. Local Spotlight: Enacting Stronger Habitability Procedures in New Orleans: Monique Blossom, Director of Policy and Communications, Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center
4. Local Spotlight: Enacting Stronger Habitability Procedures in New Orleans: Andreanecia Morris, Executive Director, HousingNOLA
5. Q&A: Nada Hussein, National Low Income Housing Coalition
6. Closing

NLIHC’s State and Local Innovation campaign launched the “Strengthening Renters’ Rights: a Primer on State and Local Tenant Protections” webinar series in fall 2024 with a call focused on laws that limit “junk fees.” Since then, the series has featured webinars on “just cause” eviction standards and rent stabilization protections as well

Many Thanks to Our Partners!

Four Tenant Protections Toolkits Released in Fall 2024

Case Study on Code Enforcement Protections

• Released in November 2024
• Highlights advocacy efforts in New Orleans, LA and Cincinnati, OH including the challenges that can occur during the advocacy and legislative processes
• Also highlights the qualitative impact of these protections, including how they are being implemented and enforced

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How Many State and Local Tenant Protections Have Been Passed?

Types of Protections Tracked:

• Rent Stabilization
• “Just Cause” Eviction Standards
• Right to Counsel
• Eviction Record Sealing and Expungement
• Source-of-Income Anti-Discrimination Policies
• Pay-to-Stay
• Right of First Refusal
• Rental Registries
• Code Enforcement Procedures/Habitability Standards
• Changes to Notice Periods/Summons Processes

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400 Protections Passed Since 2021 alone!

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Defining Code Enforcement & Habitability Protections

Why is the Proactive Enforcement of Habitability Laws Important?

Housing is a social determinant of health and wellness. Not only is housing connected to every sector of life, but the access and availability of safe, stable, and affordable housing can profoundly impact mental and physical well-being

Who is Most Impacted?

Source: America’s Health Rankings, United Health Foundation (2024)

Source: America’s Health Rankings, United Health Foundation (2024)

There are many types of ways to maintain proactive code enforcement procedures…

This includes enacting rental inspection programs, landlord licensing requirements, emergency repair funds, hiring additional code enforcement officers, and creating agencies to oversee habitability complaints from tenants

Where Have These Protections Been Passed?

• As of 2025, more than 11 states and 12 localities nationwide have taken measures to enact stronger habitability procedures for tenants

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• Montgomery County, MD and Albuquerque, NM both advanced stronger habitability and code enforcement protections for tenants in 2025

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What are the Core Components of Code Enforcement/Habitability Laws?

Questions?

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Please reach out to Nada Hussein, State and Local Research Analyst, at: nhussein@nlihc.org

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Colorado’s Updated Warranty of Habitability Statute

CED Law

Photo by Cassie Gallegos on Unsplash

The Community Economic Defense Project's Mission:

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We partner with low-income and working people to build economic and racial equity. We do this by confronting economic abuse and investing in community wealth. We use an ever-evolving set of legal, economic and advocacy tools to challenge and dismantle unjust systems, building quickly towards a world where all people have what they need to live and thrive.

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CED Law is the law firm wing of the Community Economic Defense Project.

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Misión del Proyecto de Defensa Económica Comunitaria:

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Nos asociamos con personas de bajos ingresos y trabajadoras para construir equidad económica y racial. Logramos esto combatiendo el abuso económico e invirtiendo en el patrimonio comunitario. Utilizamos un conjunto de herramientas legales, económicas y de defensa en constante evolución para desafiar y desmantelar sistemas injustos, avanzando rápidamente hacia un mundo donde todas las personas tengan lo necesario para vivir y prosperar.

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CED Law es el bufete de abogados del Proyecto de Defensa Económica Comunitaria.

Agenda

• Colorado’s Warranty of Habitability
• Senate Bill 24-94
• Denver Ordinance

Colorado’s Warranty of Habitability

Background on Colorado’s Warranty of Habitability

• Colorado was one of the last states to enact a warranty of habitability statute.
• The original 2008 WOH statute was weak and very pro-landlord.
• The state legislature made changes in 2019 that increased protections for tenants but left gaps and had unintended consequences.

New Updates

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Senate Bill 24-94 - “Safe Housing for Residential Tenants”

Background on Senate Bill 24-94

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• Warranty of Habitability pre-SB 24-94 had lots of problems:
• Only required landlords to start repairs after getting notice
• Had unenforceable requirements on landlords that were widely ignored
• Had complicated written notice requirements for tenants
• Many sections were confusing or ambiguous
• Gave landlords an easy escape under a broad “casualty or catastrophe” exception
• Allowed landlords to delete all maintenance records
• Tenant remedies were complicated and confusing

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Background on Senate Bill 24-94

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• Anderson v. Shorter Arms - 2023 Colorado Court of Appeals decision.
• First published appellate decision on Colorado’s WOH.
• Bad for tenants.
• Required strict compliance with detailed written notice requirements.
• Allowed landlords to mislead tenants by letting landlords tell tenants to give verbal notice.

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Background on Senate Bill 24-94

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• Warranty of Habitability reform coalition
• Community Economic Defense Project / CED Law
• Colorado Poverty Law Project
• The Denver Foundation

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• Supporting Organizations
• Colorado Children's Campaign - UNE Colorado
• East Colfax Community Collective - 9to5
• Disability Law Colorado - Rose Foundation
• Healthier Colorado - Others!

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Senate Bill 24-94 Updates to WOH

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• Changes the notice requirements on tenants
• Requires landlords to start, continue, and finish repairs
• Creates several presumptions to put burden on landlords to prove compliance
• Streamlines tenant remedies
• Creates enforcement of landlord communication requirements

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• Strengthens protections against retaliation and organizing
• Requires a hotel or alternative unit during major repairs
• Limits the “casualty or catastrophe” loophole
• Requires landlords to repair provided A/C units
• Allows Attorney General enforcement

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Senate Bill 24-94 Updates to WOH - Remedies

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Examples of tenant remedies:

• Terminate the lease with 10 to 60 days notice
• Deduct rent and (1) hire a professional to repair or (2) purchase a replacement appliance
• Can raise breach of warranty of habitability as an affirmative defense to eviction without needing to pay a bond
• Request injunctive relief from the court that orders landlord to make repairs, provide a hotel, etc.
• Assert breach of WOH as an affirmative claim with presumptive fair rental values of either 50% reduction or 100% reduction in rent.

Getting SB24-94 passed in the legislature

• Strong bill sponsors and coalition
• Lots of education for elected officials
• Sharing the Anderson v. Shorter Arms case widely
• Flowcharts and graphics
• Comparison tables
• In-person meetings to walk through the bill
• Compelling tenant stories
• Biggest challenges:
• Didn’t we fix this in 2019?
• Won’t this hurt mom-and-pop landlords?

How it works in Colorado

• If a landlord has any written notice from anyone of an uninhabitable condition, the landlord must act:
• Communicate to tenant an intent to start repairs and expected timeline within 24 hours.
• Start repairs within 24 hours for emergency conditions and 72 hours for non-emergency conditions.
• Presumptive timeline to complete repairs is 7 days for emergency conditions and 14 days for non-emergency.
• If a tenant requests and it’s an emergency condition, landlord must provide hotel or alternative unit during repairs.

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SB24-94 Inspiring Local Action

New Denver Ordinance

• The Denver Health Department can require landlords to relocate tenants when their homes are uninhabitable.
• If landlords do not provide relocation assistance, the new law allows the health department to place liens on properties.
• If the city has to pay for the accommodation instead of the landlord, it can place a lien on the property covering the cost plus 5 percent.

Thank you!

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Spencer Bailey

spencer.bailey@cedlaw.org

New Orleans’ Healthy Homes Program: Advocacy to Implementation

Monique Blossom, Director of Policy and Communications

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

6.11.2025

New Orleans’ Healthy Homes Program

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1. The Problem
2. Ordinance
3. Advocacy
4. Implementation and Challenges

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1. The Problem

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II. The Ordinance

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In November 2022, the New Orleans City Council passed an ordinance creating the city’s Healthy Homes Program to ensure safe and habitable dwellings by requiring:

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• Registration of residential property
• Health and safety standards for all residential rentals
• Renter Anti-Retaliation Protections
• Anti-Displacement Fund

Rental Registry

• All landlords must apply (cost free) for a Certificate of Compliance with the City’s Department of Safety and Permits
• Landlords self-certify that rental units meet the health and safety standards
• Certificates must be renewed bi-annually
• Late fee
• Certificate of compliance can be revoked for repeated violations or if the unit poses healthy or safety risks

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Health and Safety Standards

Minimum Habitability Standards including:

• Safe and operable plumbing, electric systems, smoke alarms, and heating and cooling systems
• Roofs and windows free of leaks and mold
• No rodent infestations
• Well-maintained mechanical and cooking appliances
• Carbon monoxide detector

Anti-Retaliation Protections

• Tenants have a right to report violations of the law or the Minimum Property Maintenance Code “without fear of retaliation” from their landlord, with a few exceptions.
• Protected activities include notifying the landlord of violations, requesting repairs, reporting issues to authorities or the public, and providing testimony in legal proceedings.

Anti-Retaliation Protections Cont.

Prohibited retaliatory actions by landlords include:

• Terminating the lease
• Increasing rent
• Decreasing services
• Threatening legal action
• Refusing to renew a lease

If these actions occur within six months of a tenant making a complaint, it is assumed the landlord has retaliated.

Anti-Retaliation Exceptions

A tenant is not protected from retaliation if:

• They are behind on rent payments,
• They complain about an issue that is beyond the scope of the standards,
• The tenant, family, or a guest damages the unit on purpose or threatens the safety of others;
• The tenant has violated the lease agreement in any other way.

Anti-Displacement Fund

• The Healthy Homes Ordinance also created an Anti-Displacement Fund
• The intended use of funds if for renters facing displacement
• No money has been allocated to the fund, though it is desperately needed

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III. Advocacy

• 10-year advocacy effort centering renters with lived experience
• Healthy Homes Coalition grew over the decade to include over 65 organizations
• Housing, health, justice reform, housing providers, good government, dance, cultural groups, labor

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Phone Bank and Testimony Prep Events

• I’d attend the opening of an envelope if I heard about it
• LaFHAC coordinated phone banks
• Email Action Alert
• Made it as easy as possible to take action
• Handout with QR Code and Script
• Testimony prep, gas, travel and parking compensation for renters

Goal: Hundreds of calls and emails to council, packed City Council Committee Hearing

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IV. Implementation and Challenges

• Final and extended deadline for Certification of Compliance registration is June 15, 2025.
• Implementation was phased in to get large buildings (and back actors) registered first
• There have been several extensions and delays including the change to bi-annual renewal

Implementation

• 39k units registered are fully in compliance
• Working through backlog of several thousand with issues that need to be resolved
• Of 78k rental potential units in the city, they are in contact with about two-thirds of owners in first cycle of registration

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Challenges

• Political will, it took 10 years
• The ordinance you write v. the ordinance you get
• Mandatory proactive inspections
• Anti-Retaliation

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Questions?

Stay in touch!

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Monique Blossom

Director of Policy and Communications

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center

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mblossom@lafairhousing.org

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