Rieke's committed to minimizing housing neglect

I support Clark Rieke for Cedar Rapids City Council, District 1. Because he and I are both landlords, I am writing in strong support of his positions on local housing. His years of working in most aspects of housing make him a valuable contributor to help ensure our new nuisance abatement program is as cost effective as possible. He understands the complexities of both private and public costs for affordable, quality housing, including tenants with histories of nuisance behaviors and landlords with histories of substandard homes.

He supports a variable schedule for housing inspections, a system used successfully in Davenport and Ames, and currently discussed in cities throughout Iowa. With a variable schedule, housing inspectors are responsible for, and authorized to make, judgments about the length of time between inspections.

A variable inspection schedule shows a commitment from council that frequency of inspections will be adequate to proactively avoid “problem” houses falling out of compliance with city code.

Rieke's positions and involvement demonstrate his commitment to minimizing housing neglect and maximizing our community's supply of quality affordable housing as cost effectively as possible.

Karen Guse

Cedar Rapids