Streator Rental Registration Program targets unregistered properties

Streator’s rental property registration program is entering its next phase in 2025, with a focus on making sure all rental units are registered and compliant with city codes.

Since the program began in 2019, City Engineer Jeremy Palm said it’s made progress in tracking rental properties, conducting inspections and addressing different code violations.

Palm provided an update on the program to Streator City Council during their meeting on Wednesday, showing the progress made last year.

Seven rounds of mail were sent to property owners using utility billing and county records to identify rental units. To this point, 608 permits have been filed, and 2,167 properties have been categorized as compliant.

However, 349 properties still remain unregistered, and the city plans to focus on those properties in 2025.

“We believe there are around 1,400 rental properties in Streator. The census data says there are about 1,197, but we’ve backtracked to come up with 1,400,” Palm said during the meeting. “There’s some margin of error, but we’re confident that number is close.”

Palm noted a challenge the program faces is tracking properties that frequently change ownership.

“A lot of properties have changed hands since we started this program, and some went from being rental properties to owner-occupied,” he said. “That’s made tracking more difficult, but we’re still making good progress.”

A major development in the program is the implementation of BSNA software, which Palm believes will help streamline the registration process.

“The software now lets us flag properties as rental properties when new utility bills come in, which will make it easier to track moving forward,” Palm said. “We’ve used Excel sheets in the past, but this new system is much more efficient.”

In addition to registration, the city has taken proactive steps to address problem properties. Since 2019, 50 properties have been demolished, with more expected to be torn down.

“We’re removing properties that were not paying taxes anyway, but more importantly, we’re stabilizing neighborhoods,” he said.

As the program moves into its sixth year, Palm expressed confidence in the future of the program with a fresh plan and improved software.

“I think we’re in a good place with the program, but there’s still work to do,” Palm said. “The software will definitely help us track properties easier and we’ll continue working to get everyone on board.”