INDIANA — Walking through the Statehouse on Monday, it's flooded with people.
On the fourth floor signs are held, as chanting and clapping floods the south atrium.
The signs read about housing, and tenant rights.
The people here on this day are advocating for two bills to pass that are making their way through the Senate.
Senate Bill 243
The bills author says hopes SB 243 will regulate code violations and require landlords to fix them.
"That will ensure that when there is a violation out of property, that the property cannot be leased out to someone else until that violation has been has been rectified," Senator Andrea Hunley, a co-author of the bill said.
Senator Hunley said it's one of the reasons a change in the law is needed.
"Right now there will be a code violation that happens, and as soon as those tenants move out then the code violation is frozen and nothing happens with it," Hunley said.
Hunley says it could help avoid tragedy. She cited thehouse fire in South Bend last week that claimed the lives of 6 children.
Though the cause is still under investigation, the South Bend Housing Authority says the house failed a safety inspection last summer with electrical issues.
The owner claimed it was fixed before the tenants moved in.
"We've got to make sure we are tracking them. We have to make sure that we are protecting people. Because if I am a tenant, and I'm moving into a property that's been vacant, I don't know what those violations have been. And then my entire family would be put at risk. And we have tragically seen this play out in northern Indiana," Hunley said.
Senate Bill 277
Senate Bill 277 would help local authorities set up escrow accounts for rent if landlords aren't addressing issues.
"Tenants will have rent escrow to use as a tool to enforce our warranty of habitability standards. Right now Indiana law says that a landlord is responsible for making sure that units are habitable and safe, however there are no teeth to enforce it and often times landlords just ignore it because there is nothing else after that process," Laurin Embry with Indy Tenant Association said.
The bill would add more regulations for landlords, including requiring them to be authorized to do business in Indiana and have an office or physical location in the state.
For people like Kieffer Gonzalez, it's a bill he hopes will pass.
Gonzalez says he was told it was safe to stay at his apartment on Indy's Southside after a pipe burst in the bathroom.
"It leaked in the middle of the night where we were all sleeping, it flooded my entire upstairs. It flooded my entire upstairs and caused my ceiling and my bottom level came down. It exposed just a bunch of trash, rat droppings, mold, and it was just bad fumes. It wasn't habitable," Gonzalez said.
He claims they reported the issues to the landlord, and after delayed maintenance repairs he contacted the health department.
That's when he says he received an eviction notice.
"There's almost nothing I can do about it because I couldn't withhold my rent for not living there, because the law doesn't let me," Gonzalez said.
Now he and his wife and 8 kids have been homeless since July.
"We're sleeping on the floor, or somebody's couch. Or on a blow up mattress," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez says he has tried to find a place to live but with an eviction now on his record it's been a challenge.
