Plea To City of Odessa To Dissolve or Redesign The Renter's Addendum

Dear Members of the City Council:

It has come to my attention as a citizen of the City of Odessa, Texas, that the idea of an addendum has been proposed and voluntarily implemented in some of the rental properties in the city. I would like you to reconsider, as this addendum is too rash in its current structure of actions against law-abiding citizens.

I ask that you either dissolve the addendum altogether or that the parameters of the program be redesigned and/or lessened so that the policy is less stringent in extenuating circumstances.

Consider this scenario: You have a family of three or four that have been living in a unit together for many years. This is your typical American family that sits at the table every evening for supper, and goes to church on Sunday. One night a situation arises in which the husband, or male head of the household, who is usually of an easygoing temperament is terribly upset about something. Unfortunately he has been drinking, and takes his frustration out on his spouse. She and the kids are frightened and 911 is called. This is when OPD shows up at the door, an arrest is made and the drunken male figure is taken away for domestic violence. Under the new addendum, the mother and children all lose the right to continue living there. Now you have a mother who endured a random night of hell at no fault of her own who will be asked to leave her apartment, very possibly leaving this woman and her children homeless.

Another possible scenario: A couple of roommates share an apartment. One is detained on a warrant for an unpaid speeding ticket that has just come to light. While that individual is incarcerated, the other will be asked to move out of the apartment.

Since the program is voluntary, we will also see a shift in the state of this city's economy. Citizens will be forced to give business to properties that are not part of the program, which may in the long run prove to be bad for business of the participating properties. Would an economic shift of this nature be a favored outcome of this addendum?


This addendum would also make it difficult for citizens who have been incarcerated and are making an effort to get back on their feet to do so. At the worst, if forced into a homeless situation, they could possibly return to the very thing that created the incarceration in the first placecreating an even bigger burden on the city.



I urge you to reconsider the permission of the renters addendum in the City of Odessa. Thank you for your time. I know you will do the right thing for us.