Candidates comment on rental registry

Neighborhood email lists have been abuzz this week about a public registry requirement for managers of rental property. The idea is, such a list would make it easier for neighbors to make complain when rentals and/or renters become problematic.

Ward 2 City Council candidates Darius M. Little and Matt Drew have weighed in.

Little wrote, "Not a candidate plug here, but ... this idea is great." He added that, in his Woodcroft neighborhood, managers are supposed to let the homeowners' association know which properties they handle.

Drew suggested that a community organization maintain a roster of problem properties and those who manage them, rather than having City Hall list all. "Maintaining a registration database like this is much more difficult than you might think," he wrote, and enforcing a registry requirement would add yet another burden to the Police Department.

Neighborhood groups have kicked the registry idea around several times in the past four years, most recently last spring. According to Lorisa Seibel with the Durham Affordable Housing Coalition, it's a 2010 priority for that organization's Campaign for Decent Housing.