ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Irresponsible landlords were among the main topics discussed during Allentown’s Community and Economic Development budget review Wednesday.
Addressing the costly issues the city has been experiencing with problematic landlords, CED director Vicky Kistler announced that EnerGov software will be introduced to help the city utilize data to track nuisance landlords.
According to Councilwoman Candida Affa, inspectors frequently have to go back to the same properties to assess conditions.
“I did see in the budget, we do pay a lot for rentals when it’s red-tagged,” said Affa, “and I think they should be liable for that. It’s so important to the city to do something with these slumlords.”
Kistler said the new EnerGov software is expected to help the city tremendously because it will offer more comprehensive data combined with an easier way of pulling all that data together by landlord or property owner. That will enable the city to then address problems comprehensively.
“I’m really hoping that we’ll be coming back to change some ordinances as well as to change some fees once we really see what we’re facing,” Kistler stated.
She described the strategy as the “pitbull” the city needs to deal with irresponsible property owners.
