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Renters experiencing substandard housing conditions plan to show up at Monday’s Merced City Council meeting to demand accountability measures for landlords and stronger tenant protections.
City council and staff are busy drafting an ordinance to tackle substandard housing conditions and aim to bring it to the public in May, according to Jennifer Flachman, the city’s public information officer.
At the same time, housing advocates with the nonprofit organizations Leadership Counsel For Justice and Accountability and Faith In The Valley are working with tenants seeking a task force to address chronic habitability violations at rental properties citywide.
With the ordinance, city officials hope to take an official stance against bad actors and propose targeting serial offenders – commonly referred to as “slumlords” – who have a history of code enforcement violations.
The ordinance comes as some of the city’s most vulnerable renters face habitability issues in their affordable housing units, such as mold, pest infestations, broken stoves and asbestos. Tenants report their out-of-town landlords are unresponsive to maintenance requests, and some property owners are struggling to maintain their contracts with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
As a result, a contingent of actively-engaged residents are asking council members to do more to uphold state law and protect them against eviction with the proposed anti-slumlord ordinance draft. It would include creating specific housing programs and strengthening the city’s Code Enforcement program.
Several tenants who live in housing with a record of code enforcement violations plan to speak during public comment before the council revisits a discussion on delinquent landlords.
Ashley Marie Suarez, a policy advocate with Leadership Counsel, meets often with residents who are seeking housing assistance and legal advice.
“It’s very disheartening when residents are explaining that they know their rights, that they are asking for requests, submitting work orders, and landlords try to take advantage of special needs housing groups,” Suarez said.
Tenants regularly report facing retaliation or displacement after filing health and safety complaints with the city, she said.
“Especially with housing populations that are either female, single head of household, or they are elderly, or they don’t speak English, or they’re undocumented,” she added.
Councilmember Shane Smith, who represents District 4 in northeast Merced, told The Merced FOCUS the city lacks legal aid resources for residents, particularly folks experiencing affordability issues. Thus, there isn’t a pro-bono culture in the existing local legal community.
“And so if a tenant has a question about their situation, like, ‘What should I do?’ There’s not a good place to go without having to spend a lot of money,” Smith said.
City staff are not equipped to address the issue of habitability alone, Smith said.
“It’s a question of finding solutions that actually fit what we’re capable of doing,” Smith said. “And, that’s kind of where the discussion is. I’m glad that…there’s near unanimous support from this anti-slumlord step.”
Tenants plan to convene at 6 p.m. Monday in the council chambers on the second floor of the Merced Civic Center at 678 W. 18th St.
Tenants report code violations
About a year ago, tenants at Brookdale Gardens Apartments invited Smith, City Attorney Craig J. Cornwell, and Merced Police Sgt. Alicia Gorman to tour the property, which is located in Smith’s council district.
Gorman supervises Merced’s Code Enforcement program, a police department unit staffed by three full-time officers who investigate complaints at properties citywide. Those include residential housing, vacant lots, blighted buildings and all other properties within sprawling city limits that pose a health and safety concern.
According to Blanca Ojeda, a Merced-based member with Faith In The Valley, Smith and Cornwell plan to meet with Brookdale Gardens Apartments tenants again before the city council’s upcoming May discussion.
Ojeda helped Brookdale Gardens Apartments tenants coordinate the tour with city officials a year ago. Questions remain, she said, about the city council’s proposed anti-slumlord ordinance.
“It’s been a whole year, and I’m glad this is moving forward, but what about the task force?” Ojeda told The Merced FOCUS.
A 2025 statement by Faith In the Valley in support of an anti-slumlord task force proposed specific policies to tackle the issue.
“What’s needed is a system that includes code enforcement, inspection protocols, and a community advisory committee to ensure renters have a voice in how the program is implemented….”
Code enforcement records obtained by The Merced FOCUS show that Merced landlords, including the local Housing Authority as well as out-of-town property owners, have a record of violating state habitability laws.
Records also show code enforcement officers have cited or fined the owners of Gateway Homes, Brookdale Gardens and Merced Gardens apartments. These landlords house many of the city’s most vulnerable renters, including senior citizens, extremely low-income families and tenants receiving public assistance benefits.
Out-of-town landlords own the two residential complexes located in north Merced, near the city’s Loughborough area.
Merced Gardens Apartments at 3299 Meadows Ave. is owned by Southern California-based company America Progreso Meadows. Habitability violations at the Section 8 property triggered in 2024 a withdrawal of federal funds by HUD to the landlord.
In the past five years, a Merced Police Department code enforcement officer investigated five complaints in at least three different units at Merced Gardens Apartments.
“Tenant in apt (sic) 103 states wall heater gives an awful smell, like something burning and smell makes him sick,” a 2023 report code enforcement report reads. “Burners on stove do not work, refrigerator either freezes food or allows it to spoil.”
Brookdale Gardens Apartments at 147 E Brookdale Dr. is owned by Los Angeles-based company BSD Merced 74, according to information by the Merced County Assessor’s Office.
City code enforcement officers fined the owner more than $2,000 last year for violations including no running hot or cold water. Gorman, who toured the property last year with Smith and Cornwell, said a tenant there reported scalding water temperatures.
Tenants suffer health effects of habitability issues
When Daisy Ramos first moved into her Gateway Homes unit on New Year’s Day 2023, she said she arrived with renewed hope.
A mother of four children, ages 3-18, and a survivor of domestic violence, Ramos said she felt she could dream again upon browsing through rental properties at Gateway Homes.
She was eager to leave her previous living arrangement.
“I had a lot of bad memories there because I went through abuse there,” Ramos said. “And so I was really excited to get out of there.”
Ramos faces new challenges in her current home.
Ramos’ current three-bedroom, single-family home in south Merced is part of 101 other associated addresses and 176 HUD units scattered across the city known as Gateway Homes, which is owned and operated by the Merced Housing Authority.
In the last three years, Ramos received hospital care and medication multiple times due to mold poisoning.
“It gets really cold in here,” Ramos said about her home. “So a lot of the time, especially in winter, you see a lot of drops, little water drops…It looks like it’s raining.”
Ramos has been in communication with code enforcement officers who’ve conducted past inspections of her unit. A code enforcement officer plans to conduct another inspection in the near future in response to ongoing complaints Ramos filed, she said.
A code enforcement officer cited and fined the Merced Housing Authority more than $800 last June for a list of violations at Ramos’ home, including failure to address the dampness currently contributing to mold spores.
Substandard housing conditions not a new issue
In the last few years, city officials have raised concerns about substandard housing conditions, but this is the first time the city council has considered a proposed policy tackling the issue.
The previous city council discussed the issue at length during a 2024 meeting. The discussion centered on a rental and code enforcement registry, proposed by Councilmember Fue Xiong, who represents District 6, the northernmost part of the city.
During the heated, drawn out meeting, a disagreement between Councilmember Smith and former District 3 Councilmember Bertha Perez over the registry escalated into an exchange of expletives.
In the same meeting, housing rights advocates and tenants during public comment expressed frustration about the lack of solutions to address habitability issues citywide.
Jesse Ornelas, former District 1 councilmember, said he often received calls from frustrated renters and pushed the council to focus policy on a stronger code enforcement process with increased penalties.
At the same meeting, Councilmembers Xiong and Sarah Boyle each said they agreed there needs to be a focused policy on strengthening code enforcement.
Boyle represents District 5 where Merced Gardens Apartments is located.
How code enforcement tackles substandard housing conditions
Code enforcement reports are complaint-based, according to Police Chief Steven Stanfield.
Gorman said in the past year the city hired a new full-time inspector after another one left.
Code enforcement cases involving rental properties are typically resolved in one of two ways, Gorman said. Either a tenant stops further contact, or the landlord corrects a violation.
Shifting variables determine how officers process and close a case, she said. For example, inspectors will follow specific protocols and timelines in cases where a property undergoes ownership changes or the landlord lives out of town.
Furthermore, landlords typically receive a courtesy notice to correct violations before officers issue an official citation, Gorman said. Residents have the option of reporting an anonymous code enforcement complaint by calling 209-385-6237.
Back in 2024, Stanfield noted the relatively small size of the code enforcement unit in relation to the city’s population.
“I think one of the things for us to remember and put into perspective is that, there’s on average about 100,000 citizens who live in this community, and there are three code enforcement officers and no clerical staff that manage all of this,” Stanfield said.
The state Department of Finance in 2021 named Merced the second fastest growing city in a list of California cities populated by more than 30,000 residents, the Merced Sun-Star reported.
Smith connected the city’s population boom to UC Merced’s arrival in 2005. He said he believes the city needs a system to not only address substandard housing but also accommodate student housing demand.
“I’m not convinced right now that we have that,” Smith said.
For residents interested in finding out more about the proposed anti-slumlord ordinance, Faith in the Valley and Leadership Counsel are holding a conversation 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 18 at United Methodist Church of Merced, 899 Yosemite Parkway. Invited speakers include City Councilmember Shane Smith and City Attorney Craig Cornwell. Admission is free, and attendees are encouraged to RSVP.
