And landlords too for that matter.
There’s an election this November in Lakewood, Washington. Political signs are appearing; social media postings are occurring; media interview invitations and Q & A’s have been sent.
If there’s an issue more than any other that affects the entirety of the city it’s the Rental Inspection Program (RIP) – as originally titled – Rental Housing Safety Program – as it was subsequently changed to read.
“The gigantic scale of government has made us a nation of ‘idiots,’ incapable of attending to public affairs and the common good.”
“Blunt,” best describes this and other of the premises espoused by Providence College professor Anthony Esolen in his book “Out of the Ashes: Rebuilding American Culture” published in January of this year.
Basically, anytime you do for others what they can and should do for themselves, you create a more dependent, more subservient, more compliant populace.
That’s the scenario – and the typical government approach – to ‘helping’ the homeless for example: house them; clothe them; feed them, but put them to work?
The truism: “Work is fundamental to the dignity of the person,” attributed to Pope Francis, has an antithesis when describing the trendy Rental Inspection Programs sweeping America as cities adopt the bureaucratic notion that they, the government, will do the work of inspection – ensuring you live in a manner acceptable to government standards, accompanied of course with associated fees, registrations, data processing support systems, and more, much more – because you, the renter, and the otherwise responsible landlord, are, well, idiots, incapable of taking personal ownership of your own living conditions.
The “You can do it, we can help” slogan of Home Depot has become the ‘We will do it and you will like it’ mantra of RIPs run by governments “gigantic” and otherwise.
Ironically, the Home Depot’s mascot, Homer D. Poe, was designed by illustrator Gwyn Raker to “be a funny guy next door who wasn’t intimidating.”
Yet if there’s a word that best describes RIPs it’s “intimidating” what with the 69-box, seven-page checklist carried by government-approved clipboard carrying inspectors inspecting – like-it-or-not – every nook and cranny of every rental in the city such that the government next door – casting a supersized-large shadow over the landscape – is not funny anymore.
Nevertheless, four incumbents in Lakewood, WA are running on this platform, that bigger government is better government, placing citizens in what Max Weber called the “iron cage.”
“Notable German sociologist, political economist, and administrative scholar,” Weber recognized bureaucracy – a group of administrative policy-makers – as “the most efficient form of organization, and perhaps indispensable for the modern state,” but Weber “also saw it as a threat to individual freedoms. . . in which traditional motivators for behavior were cast aside.
“Instead of utilizing . . . values to motivate behavior,” a bureaucracy instead “trapped people in an ‘iron cage’ (of) control.”
What’s at stake in this election is not so much how the voters observe the candidates, but how they perceive themselves.
any time that a local municipality adopts rules of this nature it is bothersome. As a landlord (although I don’t think of myself as an idiot) it is pretty scary when you see the city of Seattle pass ordinances that wont let the home owner ask certain questions or regulates exactly how you can collect first, last and deposit. of course on a much smaller scale now the city of Lakewood has proposed this inspection program and one can only fear the ripple effect will be felt in Steilacoom, and DuPont, anderson island and what the heck unincorporated pierce county in arrowhead.
where was all this substandard property? you know I wasn’t actively looking for an investment property but from the sounds of things it sure seems the opportunity to flip a house or two in Lakewood exists.
so as a neighbor in a nearby town I am asking all the residents of Lakewood to not only oppose the policy but any candidates that support this or the next thing you know we will all have inspections on our vehicles our lawns etc. of course the irony with that is as owners we need to act right away but if city property is damaged and you report it, how long does it take to get fixed
Thank you for your letter David.
The thing about the title “Rental Safety Inspection Programs” and the ease with which it was changed from “Rental Inspection Program” is that it’s just as easy to switch out the word “rental” to the more inclusive word, “housing”. Then ALL citizens – private homeowners, rental property owners and renters – can partake in the “iron cage of control”.
Really?
I feel if your home owners insures you. That is good enough. If you have a older home they do look at them. Certificate in hand should be enough for the city.