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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAffordable Housing Board - Minutes - 02/02/2023AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 02/02/2023 – M I N U TES Page 1 February 2, 2023, 4:00-6:00pm Online via Zoom CALL TO ORDER At 4:19 PM the meeting was called to order by John Singleton. 1. ROLL CALL • Board Members Present: John Singleton, Stefanie Berganini, Bob Pawlikowski, Jennifer Bray, Sheila Seaver-Davis, Ed Hermsen • Board Members Absent: Kristin Fritz • Staff Members Present: • Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Staff Liaison – City of Fort Collins • Marcy Yoder, Neighborhood Services – City of Fort Collins • Meaghan Overton, Social Sustainability – City of Fort Collins • Tamra Leavenworth, Minutes – City of Fort Collins 2. AGENDA REVIEW – No changes. 3. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION – None. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Stefanie Berganini moved to approve the January minutes. Bob Pawlikowski seconded. Approved 6-0. 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Rental Program and Occupancy – Marcy Yoder, Neighborhood Services • There was an attempted first reading of the Rental Housing Program to Council in January, which has been changed to a work session on February 28. The registration program with a robust complaint-based rental inspection outline and the budget will be included in the work session presentation. • There is a tentative work session scheduled for April 25 to discuss Occupancy. At this work session, they plan to bring the following to Council to discuss: • Removing family definitions from occupancy and changing the language to identify adults and their dependents. AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 02/02/2023 – M I N U TES Page 2 • Altering the number of adults and dependents outlined in the current Occupancy Limit. • Altering Extra Occupancy Processes by recommending an Extra Occupancy Process that covers all city areas, regardless of what zone someone lives in. This would also change the process from a development review process (which is lengthy and costly) to an administrative process where the permit would be specific to the owner and the property it is issued to. This permit would then be tied back into a rental inspection of the property to ensure the unit had legally conforming spaces with egress. • DISCUSSION: • What concerns does the community have about the Rental Program? There are concerns about new regulations for landlords, affordable housing, and what data we have to demonstrate the scope of this issue. We want to be clear that this isn’t an affordable housing strategy, this program is about rental protection and ensuring safe units for Fort Collins residents. As far as scope, we won’t know what the scope is until we do proactive inspections because we won’t see all units come through using a complaint-based system. • How much will the Rental Program cost? There were many assumptions made about the cost of this program before the fee schedule had been published. Many rental inspection programs use third- party inspectors, which is expensive, but that is why we are instead recommending that inspections be performed by City-employed inspectors. The cost of the program was calculated by taking program fees and dividing that out by the number of properties and units identified in the city. Using a hybrid formula, 75% of the cost is a per property fee and the remaining 25% is a per- unit fee. If Council approves a registration-only program, the fee will have to be recalculated, but it won’t be that different from what it is now. • Would affordable housing companies have to adhere to the regulations of the Rental Program? The proposal we took to Council stated that any HUD inspections that were exempt from being inspected by a City inspector would be honored. If Council moves forward with a registration-only program, we’ll also identify what types of third-party inspections are already being conducted that could be exempt from the proactive inspection process if they meet the criteria that has been established by the City. • Was this the program recommended by the Rental Housing Task Force? No, the Rental Housing Task Force recommended registration and complaint- AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 02/02/2023 – M I N U TES Page 3 based inspections, not proactive inspections. • How does the Rental Housing Program address tenant protections and rights? Under either program, our intent was to develop a multitude of resources for tenants. We want to start by creating a one-page list of resources that is available to tenants that will have website links to Neighbor to Neighbor, the complaint-based City Rental Inspection Program, awareness of the Eviction Legal Fund, and mediation resources. Although this informs tenants, it doesn’t address the power dynamic that exists between tenants and landlords. If a proactive inspection program is enacted, this would take the onus off tenants since the City would be responsible for examining and ensuring the health and safety of rental units. • How will Neighborhood Services ensure landlords follow new regulations put forth by the Rental Housing Program? We would first make sure we have a list of all landlords in Fort Collins by cross- referencing using the County Assessors Database, information from the City’s Utility data, and any other public websites where we can cross-reference address and property ownership. This is how we would track and hold people accountable for following the new regulations. • Could professional management companies choose to have their own third- party inspector? This will depend on if Council decides to enact this program differently than we originally proposed. Overall, third-party inspections are more expensive for the end user and are harder to ensure consistency. • How often will inspections on rental units be done? Every five years. • How is the Rental Housing Program different from municipalities that require all rental homes to be up to code? Our current complaint-based system has building inspectors inspect properties rather than rental inspectors. This is because the intent with rental inspections is not to examine whether a house is up to code, but rather to ensure that it meets the property maintenance code compliance. We have been having this conversation with our chief building official because there are many questions about what minimum health and safety is and how we will look at units to assess if something needs to be worked on or not. We have also discussed the difference between “deferred maintenance” versus something that’s been put off long enough to be considered hazardous. This is an unintended AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 02/02/2023 – M I N U TES Page 4 consequence that was discovered in our research, and we are going to have to continue to monitor things like this and see what resources could be available to landlords. • Can the Occupancy Program do anything about over-occupancy in homes due to drug-related activities? This issue would fall under public nuisance. A new public nuisance order holds property owners accountable for nuisance activities that occur on their property and drug-related activities are on that list. • How is the public nuisance policy enforced? It starts with a notification letter and if the issue gets resolved, the process is complete. If not, a fine is issued to the landlord. If the landlord accrues up to three unpaid fines, they can be charged with a criminal misdemeanor and the City can sue the property owner in a civil suit. Voluntary compliance is always the City’s first goal. • What is the purpose of the current occupancy limit if the city has other regulations in place to account for nuisance, noise, etc.? The Occupancy Limit was originally designed to increase livability in neighborhoods by controlling the number of people who lived in a house. The goal of occupancy at this point is to look at how to right-size the housing stock to the number of people living in Fort Collins and it is a policy decision that Council will need to decide on and debate. • Were occupancy limits created with safe egress from a home in mind? Not necessarily. Occupancy limits don’t always address the issue of safe egress because this has more to do with the safety of the unit and building code regulations than it does occupancy. B. Housing Strategic Plan – Meaghan Overton, SSD • Meaghan asked if the Board had any questions about the Rental Housing Program or the Land Development Code repeal. • DISCUSSION: • Why does Fort Collins have such a long wait for Section 8 Housing compared to other states/markets? In many places (not just Fort Collins), there isn’t enough funding for the number of vouchers needed. There’s also the challenge of housing vacancy. In Fort Collins the vacancy rate has been well below 5% for years. So even if you get a voucher, you must find an available unit where the rent is set appropriately for AFFORDABLE HOUSING BOARD REGULAR MEETING 02/02/2023 – M I N U TES Page 5 that voucher. There is also a certain length of time in which you must use the voucher, so if you can’t find anything in the specified amount of time, it goes to someone else. • What’s coming up in housing that we should be aware of? Sustainable Funding, which is dedicated revenue for affordable housing. We are also tracking legislation around land use. C. Board Member Ideas – Bob suggested inviting Aliyah Rodriguez, Larimer County’s Housing Specialist, to speak with the board sometime this year. 6. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS – None. 7. OTHER BUSINESS • City Council 6-month planning calendar review • Council Comments – Who, what? • Review 2023 Work Plan • Update on Affordable Housing Projects • Future AHB Meetings Agenda 8. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 6:05 P.M. Minutes were finalized and approved by the Affordable Housing Board on March 2, 2023.