Callaway County renters will have a chance to air their grievances during a tenant forum Wednesday.
The meeting is open to local tenants and will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. at the Callaway Central Missouri Community Action, 610 Collier Lane. Light refreshments will be provided.
"For the past year, the Safe and Affordable Housing Taskforce has been meeting to discuss solutions to increase safe and affordable housing in Callaway County," Kellie Pontius, of CMCA, said. "One of our strategies includes a tenant forum where local, low-income tenants could share their personal experiences while also discussing possible solutions to safe and affordable housing as well."
She added local landlords have not been invited to the forum.
"At this time, the Safe and Affordable Housing Taskforce wanted to focus on tenant issues and allow for tenants who have experienced unsafe and expensive rent in Callaway County to have the confidence to share their experiences and brainstorm solutions for increasing safe and affordable housing," Pontius said.
The topic has been the subject of ongoing discussion in Callaway County, where more than half of the residences are rental units.
"After handling family development cases in the past 14 years, I have noticed there is a huge disconnect between landlords and tenants in Callaway County," Pontius said.
She added while the task force has plenty of quantitative data on the state of housing in Callaway County, qualitative data is important as well. Information gathered during this meeting will be used in future planning toward resolving housing issues, Pontius added.
In the future, the task force plans to have a housing expo to connect both landlords and tenants to resources.
According to Pontius, Mayor Leroy Benton has confirmed he plans on attending the forum. Councilman Jeff Stone has been involved with the SAHT.
Tuesday night's Fulton City Council meeting will include the third reading of Bill 1500, a 21-page ordinance addressing unsafe buildings and nuisance properties - some of which, statistically, are likely be rental units.
The bill includes definitions of dangerous buildings addressing interior and exterior walls; foundations; floor or roof loads; damages by fire or causes; dilapidation to the point they are unfit for human habitation; lack of running water, electricity, sanitation and heat; safe egress in case of emergency evacuation; being a blight on neighborhoods and more. The bill also addresses standards for repair.