JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Wednesday, people filled the Don Davis room in City Hall as Jacksonville city council members held the first public notice meeting on how to go about creating a landlord registry for the city.
The resolution first introduced by Councilman Jimmy Peluso would create a list of all landlords in the city of Jacksonville for renters.
It’s because it’s not always easy for renters to know who their landlords are.
“I want to make sure that people have a registry that shows who owns the property, what their background is, what their history has been for the people who live there,” Councilman Peluso said.
However, there was an unexpected twist during that meeting.
A representative from the office of general counsel came in during the meeting and said that this resolution, asking Mayor Deegan to establish a public landlord registry in Jacksonville, is a power that falls under the legislative branch, which is the City Council.
Read:
Since the General Counsel’s representative came in during the meeting and said a resolution presents a balance of powers issue, Councilman Peluso plans to pull the resolution and reintroduce it as an ordinance.
“By creating an actual ordinance and putting the language for an office of housing or the registry in an ordinance code, that means it will now have the force of law,” said Councilman Jimmy Peluso.
The meeting brought about many concerns and calls for clarification from Councilman Peluso.
One question that kept coming up was whether or not landlords would be required by the city to register.
Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio decided to follow up with Councilman Peluso after the meeting and find out.
Foglio asked him if he would require mandatory registration. He replied saying “It probably wouldn’t be mandatory.” He went on to say, “I think what we would do is we would hire someone to actively go and register groups based on their information in our public file.”
Another question Foglio had for the councilman was whether or not this list would feature all landlords or just corporate landlords. He said he thinks it would be all landlords.
“If you are a land owner or a landlord and you have renters, I think it’s just good for them to know,” Councilman Peluso said.
Creating a Jacksonville Landlord registry is drawing support from some and opposition from others.
People who support the landlord registry say it’s needed for transparency.
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
Those against it say it could hurt smaller landlords.
Paul Hoffman is a Jacksonville resident, and he used to be a renter. He’s worried about how the landlord registry would impact smaller landlords.
“I feel that in this war against landlords, the casualties will be the small-time landlords,” Hoffman said. “I am reasonably assured that there are more in this city than there are... than the big limited liability corporations.”
Dr. David Jaffee is a professor of sociology at the University of North Florida. He is also the Director of the Jax Rental Housing Project. His report found that Duval County has more eviction filings than any other Florida county.
In 2022, the monthly average number of eviction filings per 1,000 renters was 7.08 in Duval, according to research by The JAX Rental Housing Project.
In comparison, that number was 3.70 in Miami-Dade County, 5.84 in Orange County, 4.77 in Hillsborough County, and 3.50 in Pinellas County. This pattern was repeated for 2023.
These statistics earned Duval County the title of the eviction filing capital of Florida.
Dr. Jaffee supports creating a registry because he says the research he’s done shows there’s a need for it.
“We’re having a Jacksonville huge corporate landlord invasion. Most people don’t know, even though they are renting, who actually owns their property. Often, the city doesn’t know who owns the property, so we’re talking about transparency, we’re talking about accountability,” Dr. Jaffee said.
Councilman Jimmy Peluso said he plans to pull the resolution and reintroduce it as an ordinance soon.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
