ELMIRA, N.Y. (WENY) -- Landlords often require references and credit checks from prospective tenants, while tenants rarely have access to information on the landlords and property management before signing a lease. The city of Elmira is trying to do something to change that, to provide more transparency about landlords who have issues with their rental properties.

"We’ve coined this as 'the city of Elmira’s fight against blight', focusing on our worst landlords as a much wider focus on the city's housing. Housing is both a quality-of-life issue and a fiscal issue, as residential property taxes make up a significant portion of our revenue," said Elmira Mayor Dan Mandell.

Mayor Mandell said many properties are burned out and boarded up, and empty lots in residential neighborhoods where homes once stood. He added almost half of city residents rent, and sometimes they pay as much as half their income for properties that are often substandard.

"While many of our chronically unsheltered face mental health and addiction challenges that are beyond the city's ability to serve, we believe increasing affordable and availability of quality housing will reduce homelessness and contribute to a sense of thriving as we lead Elmira's revitalization. We're not saying that all landlords are bad landlords. These are the worst of the worst, the people who can't keep their properties up. We have many good landlords in this city," said Mayor Mandell.

The Fourth District City Councilman Reverend Gary Brinn said while they work to expand the number of housing units that are available in the city, they also have to address the poor conditions of some properties.

"A small subset of landlords and property management companies exploit the tight market, failing to maintain properties, refusing to register them, or to make them available for inspection, and sometimes operating illegal boarding houses," said Brinn.

Brinn said they are happy to work with landlords to address problem tenancy.  However, if someone contributes to the homelessness problem, they will be on the list for a year.

"Of course some landlords have no shame and exploitation will continue to be a problem as long as we don't have enough housing. That brings us to our next focus area," said Brinn.

Brinn emphasized that this resolution will not affect landlords who follow the letter of the law.

"This resolution does not in any way negatively impact landlords who are not in violation, and even landlords who are in violation, briefly, if something happened. It's just a temporary thing. They only show up for one month on the report. What this does go after, is the landlords who do an end run around the eviction process, by creating code violations, forcing people into homelessness," said Brinn.

Mayor Mandell added there are lots of empty homes, and "the majority are in the hands of banks, holding companies, and long-distance speculators. These properties are going to be brought back to the market... Elmira has some very nice homes and some very nice neighborhoods. But, we also have hundreds of vacant properties, some qualify as zombie properties under New York State statute."

The public list will include rental properties with outstanding code violations, properties that fail to be properly registered or inspected promptly.

"The list will include information on ownership and property management, possibly including the names and address[es] of participants in limited liability corporations. This will include a special section listing owners and property management companies that through their negligence, cause tenants to lose their homes. We know that some landlords and property managers create unsafe conditions to force out problem tenants. Don't do it," said Brinn.

According to the Director of Code Enforcement, there would be a fine potentially up to $250 per day, per violation, from the time the violation was issued. 

At the City Council meeting on Monday night, there were mixed reactions from the public about this resolution.  Some people spoke in favor of it.

"I am here today to stand in agreement with this resolution, as landlords who behave unethically, or in some cases, immorally, should be called out and publicly identified," said one man.

Others were against it, saying tenants cause problems sometimes, and that the resolution unfairly punishes good landlords who have bad tenants.

"If we had a list of...bad tenants, I mean, that's an option too. It shouldn't just all be on the landlord," said another man.

The resolution passed by a vote of 5-1.  The only vote against this proposal came from Councilman Nick Grasso.  He cited already stressed departments and feedback from constituents as his reasoning.

"I do think it's unfair to both sides of the aisle. The resolution is well-intentioned, but I think we missed the mark on adequately addressing everybody's concerns here," said Grasso.

City officials said they are citing tenants who have violations as well.  Since the resolution passes, the list is expected to be in effect starting in May, and the list will be updated by the 15th of each month.  This list will be posted on the city's website, social media accounts, and in a monthly press release.