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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-RHAC-2005-04-27Rental Housing Forum 4/25/05 6 -7:30 GIAC Gymnasium The following notes were taken by Dave Breeden. Where comments are attributed to particular individuals, it was my best attempt to capture the essence of what they said and is not word - for -word, and I apologize for any mistakes. There were, at the high point, 30 people attending, including: 6 RHAC Commission members: (Dave Breeden, Phoebe Brown, Michael Taylor, Patty Sipman, Shane Seger, Joyce Muchan), 4 Common Council members : (Michelle Berry, Joel Zumoff, Mary Tomlan, Michael Taylor) 3 members of the press: (Cornell Sun, people filming from a Cornell class on Public administration) 1 County Board member (Martha Robertson) 2 representatives of the Living Wage Coalition (Pete Meyers, Jessie Brown) 1 representative from Tompkins Community Action (Al Fields) 2 from NyCERTA (Gaye Nicholson and 1 other) 3 landlords Fay: What has the Commission [hereafter, RHAC] done? What do we, the Commission, want to know from the Forum participants? Shane: We haven't done anything yet, and we're hoping for a wide -open discussion this evening. Woman: What can RHAC do? Joyce: We've been inactive for several years, and what we can do depends on what you, the public wants us to do and is willing to help us do. Shane: asks people to bring up rental issues Al: Section 8 tenants are discriminated against —even where there are vouchers they can't find landlords to take them. Also, rent prices are so high that the vouchers aren't big enough. Section 8 recipients often can't get first and last months rent and security deposits together. Jessie: this isn't secret discrimination, and isn't against the law: landlords are often right up front about saying they won't take Section 8 tenants. Woman: The condition of rental properties is often horrible. What can renters do to stand up for their rights? What are housing standards? It often takes the city months and months to respond to a housing complaint.. Phoebe: We need a central place for tenants to find out about housing rights and make complaints —maybe a phone hotline? Speaker: the building department is way overworked and understaffed. Michael A new building department position has been created to try to restore previous staffing levels. Proper staffing is a high priority for the department. (building department phone number is 274 - 6508). People need access to information, need to know if there are pending complaints about a landlord before they rent from him/her. The City also needs an expedited grievance process. Michelle: People need access to lists of complaints against landlords. Binghamton has such a thing, and might serve as a model. They (Bing) also maintain lists of Good landlords. Part of the larger problem is that housing is scarce, so landlords can get away with more and still be able to rent. Woman: Buildings aren't inspected Certificates of compliance [hereafter coc] are largely self - regulating. Landlord: Buildings are inspected every three years, and when sold. If a landlord wants to list their properties through Cornell, they have to have a current coc. Cornell checks against the City's database of coc's. Renting to Section 8 tenants also requires a current coc. Landlord: One of the reasons rents are so high is that taxes and utilities are so high. Not all landlords are making money. There are a wide variety of situations. Fay: City resident since 1982, so a renter for over 20 years. Renting situation is horrendous. The conditions are often unbearable. We should have rent control. There are lots of landlords who live out of town and are making a lot of money. Points: 1. The RHAC should have a hotline and a database of landlords 2. High rents are a problem. Cornell owns too much land, and this makes the tax situation worse. 3. We need to improve building dept. responsiveness to tenants and create a database for complaints that would be publically accessible. Martha: RHAC should take a strong statement to the Common Council. The City has a history of encouraging Cornell not to build on- campus housing, since on- campus housing decreases the taxbase, but this serves to drive up rents by sending students out into the city to rent. The real issue of high rents is the limited supply. The results of the Compass II survey show that housing is one of the top two problems in the County. Michael: Landlords don't advertise it, but there are vacancies, partially due to the downturn in the economy, in the luxury apartments in collegetown. The Off Campus Housing Task Force has just issued its report, and part of that says that Cornell needs to be more aware of and help to address the problems of the off - campus community, including renters' problems. Woman: There are people downtown on fixed income, with transportation issues. Cornell may advocate for its off - campus community, but who advocates for these fixed income people? Al: Tompkins Community Action is a tremendous resource. They have, right now, 9 vouchers for housing and lots of pople on the waiting list to get housing, but no landlords who will take the vouchers. Martha: to the extent that Cornell advocates for its off - campus community, it helps all renters. Phoebe: that's absolutely not true. Cornell may help its coff - campus Community, but that doesn't mean other people are being helped. Landlord: The Landlords's Assocation, of which she is a member, should have a meeting devoted to Section 8 issues, so other landlords can learn Section 8 recipients are great for landlords, very reliable rent payments, etc. In downtown, taxes are high but there is public transportation. In the outlying areas, the converse is true. Taxes are lower, but transportation is less available and more expensive). Al: The Section 8 program is a really good thing. [the 2 landlords present say that they agree] Woman: Is there any sort of safety net for housing funds? Phoebe: Yes. The Department of Social Services has a "one- shot" deal where you can get, once a year, if you have an eviction notice you can bring in, emergency housing funds. Alternatives Federal Credit Union, if you're working, also has an emergency loan program. J.R. Four points: 1. Section 8 housing discrimination whould be illegal. 2. How does the city handle slumlords? 3. How many landlords are there, and are they all in the same legal classification? Would it be possible to have laws which applied to large landlords, but exempted people just renting out a room in their house? 4. Can the City fast -track development of affordable housing like they did for other downtown developments like Cayuga Green? Gaye: There are examples of towns in Tompkins County driving away affordable housing developers. There's a need for much more public education. Shane: We have 10 minutes more, then a wrap -up. We'd like to hear about more new issues, hear from some people who haven't spoken yet. Fay: Taxes and rents are way too high, and too much of the housing stock is despicable. Shane: There's a possibility of a law which would allow renters to have their own repairs done on the place they're renting. The RHAC is looking into this. Martha: The answer to affordable housing in upstate cities is to let the buildings degrade so badly that they can only be rented for cheap. Monica: Not all landlords are bad. The RHAC or anyone else should be cautious in recording complaints, building a database, etc. Landlords don't blacklist tenants; tenants shouldn't blacklist landlords. Woman: Leases are important, We (the RHAC) should protect tenants. Renters DO get blacklisted. Joyce: Bad landlords make the good ones look bad. There are other groups who haven't been mentioned who are concerned: internatinal students, who get taken advantage of, people of color, who get discriminated against in housing, etc. Woman: Some of the slumlords are also the people who don't demand first and last month's rent, and who are more lax about security deposits. DO we really wantto get rid of them? Fay: The issues are complex. Some students (renters) can be bad as well, disrespectiful of landlords and neighbors. Patty: In dealing with the Building Department, the squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease. You have to be persistent, have pictures, etc. Martha: The County Assessment Department may be able to help us in constructing a database. Shane: thank you all for coming. We may be able to get notes out to you, etc.