While homeownership remains out of reach for more Americans than ever, an increasingly large number of single-family homes are either being built to rent or are being purchased by investors as rental properties. However, Coppell has seen the number of single-family rental properties in the city rise by more than a third in just five years.
During an Oct. 10 Coppell City Council meeting, City Manager Mike Land said that staff had 1,474 single-family rental properties on their radar — that’s a significant jump from 1,081 properties on the rolls in 2019. Coppell Chronicle publisher Dan Koller did the math (better him than me, to be honest) and noted that it was a 36 percent increase.
While the increase in single-family rental properties isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Koller noted that the meeting centered on code compliance issues at the properties.
“When you talk to folks in the community,” Land said according to Koller’s report, “people notice in this community that it’s not as ‘kept’ — I guess is the way to say that — as it has been in the past.”
Overall, getting landlords to maintain properties according to the city’s standards has been akin to pulling teeth at the close-in Dallas suburb, but it may be time for Coppell to get tough on landlords who don’t take care of their rentals.
“This is the culture of working with them with empathy and compassion, but what we’re finding is that the pushback is harder, faster, not as nice,” Land said. “Therefore, staff does take it on the chin.”
City Attorney Bob Hager — who has held the same role for Duncanville, Lancaster, and Red Oak — said it may be time for Coppell to get tougher.
“You have to be very vigilant about this,” Hager said. “You might have to start getting uglier than you have been in the past. You cannot afford for your housing stock to slip.”
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