In July of 2008, the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, California passed legislation to help stop the rising number of bed bug infestations that were plaguing residents. The 2008 legislation required property owners and hotels to pay a fee to the City for a “Vector Control and Healthy House Inspection Program Fee”. The fee is paid annually and is determined based upon the number of rental units within a building. The fee pays for “vector control, lead hazards, asbestos hazards, and other inspection for health violations and regulations.” Specifically, the laws were changed to help pay for health inspectors to inspect rental properties and hotels for bed bug infestations.
The city only has two dedicated Department of Health inspectors for the 560 hotels in San Francisco. That translates into one inspector for every 10,000 units. Additionally, the Board of Supervisors passed a measure that would fine landlords $1,000 for every day that persistent problems, such as bed bugs, are not handled. According to reports, the Department of Public Health has not issued any fines, despite the fact that infestations have been found. It’s not surprising that some city officials and residents are crying foul. They are wondering why the Department of Public Health is collecting fees that were intended to be used to hire more inspectors to perform citywide bed bug inspections, yet there is a lack of inspections, and a lack of fines being issued. Clearly, better laws need to be created in San Francisco.
The National Pest Management Association supports measures that would assign specific responsibilities to landlords, tenants and pest management professionals in the management and prevention of bed bug infestations in multi-family housing units. Creating comprehensive legislation that mandates what everyone’s responsibilities are will help in the ultimate eradication of bed bug infestations throughout America!
