Superior Aims to Rid 'Slumlords' Through Public Survey

SUPERIOR - The City of Superior is pushing hard to overhaul its rental standards so people live healthier and better lives. For the past year, Superior has been working to get rid of so-called ‘slumlords’ and make rental units a better place to live. Currently, the city has no laws on rentals so landlords are able to get away with renting places that would be better off condemned.City leaders say safety of tenants is their number one concern, and they believe a rental reform is a big way to solve problems that come with sub-standard housing. "I don't care what building it is in the city of Superior; I would be willing to bet that if I walk through I could find a violation," said long-time landlord and owner of 92 rental units in Superior, John Mahan. Driving through a Superior neighborhood you can tell it's the oldest housing stock in Wisconsin."There's issues in terms of housing condition, age of housing," said chair of the Superior rental committee, Millie Rounsville. Because of the age, the insides start to look, what some would call, disgusting. Pictures from Superior’s building inspection office show grimy toilets, filthy bathtubs, and floors that look like they haven't been touched in years."There's certain instances where the landlords haven't been responsible," admitted Mahan. Rounsville along with the Superior Rental Committee are making it their mission to have safe housing a top priority."It's been more basic life safety,” she said, while explaining conversations about the reform. “Is there a handrail? Are the windows broken or not?" Because of current laws there's no way to track how many landlords, renters or rental units there are scattered throughout the city. A study done more than 10 years ago estimates more than 10,000 rentals scattered throughout Superior. “Trying to get a better feel of what do we have currently going on in our community and then obviously how do we address those issues?” said Rounsville. To try and gauge how bad the problem really is, the committee has developed three separate surveys: one for community members, one for renters, and another for landlords. The hope is to collect enough public comments to build an ordinance so they’re able to set minimum rental standards and make Superior a better place to live. “Clearly we want the city to look nice,” said Rounsville. “We want everybody in the city whether they're an owner, a renter - we want the community to look nice.” A big question the survey asks renters is why they choose to live in places that have bad conditions? Officials say the three surveys are the only way for the city to figure out what to do about these bad rentals, and how to fix the problems. The surveys are available until Oct. 17. The results are expected to be presented to the Superior City Council in early November. Paper surveys are available at: City of Superior Clerk’s Office - 1316 N. 14th St. #200 Superior Housing Authority – 1219 N. 8th St. Superior Senior Citizen Center – 1527 Tower Avenue Northwest Wisconsin Community Agency – 1118 Tower Avenue North Country Independent Living – 69 N. 28th St. #28 To take the community member survey, click here. To take the tenant survey, click here. To take the landlord survey, click here.