Agency Will Institute Home Rehab Rules

After several residents complained that contractors performed shoddy work, Orange County’s housing agency plans to impose new rules for its home rehabilitation program.

The changes come after the Housing and Community Development Department inspected all 235 homes that received rehab work over the last two years.

The inspections uncovered few examples of major problems, but did reveal that contractors did not always secure the proper building permits when doing the jobs, said Robert Wilson, director of the department.

In a few cases, contractors were asked to make “minor” corrections, such as repainting or patching walls and replacing electrical outlets, Wilson said.

No new rehabilitation grants have been awarded since January, when the Board of Supervisors held a lengthy hearing on the problem. Wilson said the program could resume later this summer, with several new rules:

* The county will make a final inspection of each home to determine whether all the work has been completed property.

* Housing officials will conduct “exit interviews” with all homeowners to make sure they are satisfied.

* The county will not pay contractors for their work unless they have obtained all the proper building permits.

“I think this is a good program, but we need to make sure all the proper safeguards are in place,” Wilson said Monday. “We want the homeowner to be the final judge of the quality of the work.”

Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who pushed county officials earlier this year to help homeowners who complained of shoddy work, said the new rules sound like a good first step.

“Safeguards are essential to make sure the situation doesn’t repeat itself,” Spitzer said.

Both exit interviews and on-site inspections are needed because homeowners might not be able to detect faulty plumbing or electronic wiring without professional assistance, he added.

The Sheriff’s Department is investigating some of the repair jobs to determine whether any fraud occurred.

Wilson said his department will determine at a later time whether some contractors will be barred from doing further rehabilitation projects.