Relatively few affordable housing-oriented bills cleared the General Assembly this year, albeit with a high-profile exception.
In early June, housing justice organizations celebrated passage of a bill guaranteeing most tenants a right to legal representation during eviction proceedings — a version of a bill that failed in a dramatic midnight vote at the end of the 2022 legislative session.
And last week, Gov. Carney quietly signed legislation enabling counties to use realty transfer tax revenue to fund affordable housing projects, opening the possibility that Sussex County could use a portion of its substantial revenues from pandemic-era home sales to address its escalating shortages of workforce housing and transitional housing.
But most housing bills introduced languished in committee or stalled before they could reach a floor vote. Those include legislation prohibiting so-called “crime-free housing” ordinances requiring landlords to evict tenants if they, a family member or a guest commits a criminal offense: ordinances critics say can lead to the eviction of domestic violence victims or vulnerable seniors.
Bill sponsor Marie Pinkney says she hopes to revive the bill next year; but adds some Delaware municipalities are already shifting towards less-strict versions of the ordinances.
“What we’re seeing – on a positive note – is municipalities like Newark adopting their own version of nuisance ordinances that give a point system and give opportunities for appeals," she said.
None of the six Delaware municipalities with "crime-free housing" ordinances on the books currently enforce those laws, though Seaford's city council adopted a new "nuisance property" ordinance in March that would triple all city fees and fines issued to a property owner for five years if their property is deemed a "nuisance" by the city because of criminal activity or civil code violations — pressure that could prompt a landlord to evict a tenant deemed responsible for that designation.
Two bills intended to address lot rent hikes and maintenance failures at manufactured home parks also stalled on the final day of the legislative session.
A bill sponsored by state Sen. Jack Walsh that would enable Delaware Department of Justice to intervene earlier when a park owner fails to provide basic services like clean drinking water passed the Senate and was on the House agenda on the session’s final day, but House leadership cut the agenda short to make time to celebrate the retirement of former House Speaker Pete Schwartzkopf.
New Speaker Val Longhurst did not specify why Walsh's bill did not receive a vote, but she criticized the Senate for not hearing a bill she introduced that would place caps on consecutive rent increases in manufactured home parks.
“We can’t get something as simple as relief for people who are struggling to pay their bills, struggling to find food or pay for medication," she said. "And now we’ve left this General Assembly without any help for the manufactured housing community – it’s very disappointing.”
Longhurst's bill stalled in committee in the Senate, where it faced opposition from both park owners and some manufactured home owners concerned that capping lot rents could prompt the closure of several parks, leaving their residents without a place to live.
Legislation sponsored by Rep. Sherry Dorsey that would have clarified how tenants can withhold rent payments in escrow if their landlord does not address vital property maintenance problems also failed to reach a vote in the Senate.
