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Home My WebLink AboutMN-RHAC-2012 - various minutes in summary form 2012 April: RHAC 4/18 -Graham is interim chair. -Monica, Pat and Joyce still to be approved. 4 other pending apps. Still haven’t gotten any apps from Collegetown. - Strike second sentence on #5 from notes. Notes won’t be official until base quorum is established. -Adding questions for future surveys (ex. addressing trash) -Exterior maintenance-review of fees by city. Email notification is proving to improve relationship between landlords and city. Landlords now get grace period (?-am actually not sure on this). City Administration, Government Performance & Accountability also deal with city policy. Idea: Make notification with pics and email instantaneously with tablets in the future? Current fees: $50, $200, $300 (progressive feeing within 12-month period). Possibly keep fines @ $50 to be more fair to new tenants who may otherwise “accidentally” get a larger fee on a first offense. -Keep negotiating meetings for fees open to 3rd-parties to avoid cronyism that is/can be associated with negotiating fines after certain # of abuses or time. (Possible set-up of 1: $50 2:$50 3: $50 4: $1000 to show landlords that abuse the system that city is serious but probably won’t for reasons listed above.) Building Dept. does require a manager that’s accountable for property (esp. relevant for out-of-town owners). Manager needs to be licensed as broker. Independent property owners need to be licensed. Employees do not. -Graham will follow up on status on whether another survey was done. (One was done for downtown business in 2011.) Urban sprawl spreading to surrounding areas reduces potential revenue for city. Greater need for housing at all income levels but only the lower-income and middle-income brackets seem to be a true “need” vs. higher income levels. RHAC should have input on next renters’ survey. Separate next survey into county and city for closer inspection of data. Rep from Survey Research Institute @ Cornell (who helped w survey) to hopefully come to RHAC for next meeting for further discussion, esp for city stats. May: May 15, 2012- General/Random: -First meeting with “official quorum”. Mayor attended till 6, at which time G. Kerslick also left. Co-chairs appointed: Mitch Paine and Larry Beck (2 chosen in order to have a balanced landlord and tenant focus). Goal: “improve relationship between tenants and landlords broadly...[also] tenants and city...[create] a more affordable place to rent and do business”-S. Myrick. RHAC can request Common Council pass further resolutions on standing regulations or pass along concerns (ex. to county, state levels). May want to possibly time agendas, even if just rough estimates. Delete paragraph 100-5.F from responsibilities. A. Affordable housing notes: “unfunded mandates” defined as “costs imposed by NYS”-L. Beck (ex. carbon monoxide alarms), resulting in higher rent. Greater numbers of owner-operating housing may bring housing costs down. Rates of vacancy (0% in Collegetown, 1% around Commons, 2% West End) affecting high rent and also affecting decisions on where to place future housing. What other interests, relationships influence this that should be addressed in RHAC? (my own ?) Interest (from R. Cowan) in also addressing business renting, esp. downtown. Purposely creating affordable housing that’s also mixed-demographic is key. Current housing cost abt 60% of income vs. the more appropriate 30%. Tax-credit housing: needs to rent specifically to low-income in exchange for landlord’s tax credit. (“Sec. 8 is totally different.”-K. Jackson) Affordable housing: “an affordable rate for those units.”-R. Cowan “How can we also make this to existing landlords?” (also R.C.) Not sure how much we can. Key is that solutions should be both long-term and sustainable. B. Legal, RHAC Info Being Made Easily Accessible-Putting legal resources on city website. Vital to keep colleges in loop abt resources available (ex. maintain active engagement with Cornell Off-Campus Housing). “Bricks and mortar” a possible option. (I assumed this was a website but I didn’t get results and am now realizing I missed something here. Can we clarify this? Thanks!) Collegetown Student Council may have an active role. F. Communications-Set up email and listserve, possibly link to city website? (Can automatically set-up email to forward to another address, if needed.) E.Incentives to Promote Improvements- Moll suggested a 5-yr tax amnesty program. Everyone seems on board, but perhaps call “assessment cap” instead so it would fly better with public. Saves renters $. Think everyone (ex. homeowners) would also benefit from this/should do. Keep this analogous with current structure of building permits? Assessments are done by county each year but city influences rate. Didn’t Get To: C. Review the Zoning Parking Fine, D. Sidewalk repair. Oct: REVISED EDITION: All members present Additional: Chris from Cornell Collegetown Student Council, Denise ??, Julie Paige, Bonnie Prunty I. Timetable for showing apartments -Numerous concerns from various facets of community being voiced. -IC students are not “released” for off-campus housing until senior year. -CU has greater percentage of off-campus students, from undergrads though grad and professional students. -Pressure of housing is more intense closer to campus and often for multi-bedroom houses. -City can say landords can’t renew leases before a certain date in an effort to alleviate pressure on current tenants. Discussion about updating certain date. - Major advantage of giving tenants and landlords more information about renting about any changes to this process. -Problem needs to be approached city-wide, as landlords are also pressuring non-student tenants for a decision quicker. (This problem itself isn’t new, but pressure is being enforced at an earlier date than before.) -Do more research on other college towns with similar problems (ie. Ann Arbor, MI) II. Discussion of property tax-abatements for exterior capital improvements -Establish a 5-yr tax-abatement program where exterior improvements aren’t considered into a property’s assessment value for the 5 years following improvement. -Would encourage people to take out more building permits and get more work done all at once (vs. multiple smaller projects). -Good deal for individuals and small businesses as this abatement would be similar to tax abatements large developers are getting here already. -Note: Property assessments are done by Tompkins Couty, not city. III. Rental Housing Forum and Partnerships -No response from Fall Creek outreach. -Outreach in Collegetown via Collegetown Fair, Oct. 20, 1-4 pm. -Consider outreach via Human Services Listserve, too. 5:15 Graham suggesting listing absense instead of presences. LB: Presences are better for ensuring quorum. I. Timetable for showing apartments 5:18 How fast students are re-renting? Now, 1 academic year ahead. GK: A few emails to Common Council and Graham specifically, 10’s of comments. RHAC is “most appropriate body”, talked to Cornell Off- Campus Housing. IC has 3-yr residency requirement so students were signing leases before being released for off-campus housing. (Seniors are automatically released.) RF: Influencing off-campus IC students as well. MP: Grad and professional students as well but slightly less pressure because of the Mar-May schedule. MM: “Customer-driven” high number of hits and rentals at beginning of rental cycle. RC: Possibly just a shortage of housing per proximity? NS: Trickle-down affecting city’s regular housing rental community. MM: Renting higher bdrm properties first. RC: Often 1 person will sign lease and worry about roommates later. RF: Sometimes, but not always. MM: I always give at least 2 weeks notice. Waits until after Oct. 1. Where is the pressure coming from? ⅓ of IC (abt 2,000) lives off-campus. Cornell: 14-16,000 live off-campus. Chris: Social scene has shifted more to off-campus. Contributing to pressure? Often, 1 party/group looking at multiple properties. RC: Can we say landlords “no, you can’t rent before a certain date”? GK: Yes. We have one and we can change it. LB: What mechanisms could slow it down? Who is more responsible for this-tenants or landlords? Could a notice period solve this? (Ex. Longer, maybe 30 days) RC: Frenzy can drive renting rates up, creating very competitive market. GK: Market just temporarily crazy? MM: Needs to be approached city-wide. Let’s make some contacts and do more research with other college towns. (Examples of Ann Arbor, Michigan given.) BP: Students will probably need more time as they often don’t move in till school starts. GK: City attorney agress research would be worth perusing. MM & RC: Want to make sure tenants are good and happy there, a win-win. MM: Very intense markets for a few days and then done. BP: Not new-just happening earlier in season. II. Discussion of property tax abatement program for exterior capital improvements MM: Assesor looks at market value so landlords put exterior effort in. Higher assesment=highter taxes. Answer: 5-yr tax abatement so new improvements aren’t looked at by assesor for following 5 years. Current tax rates: City-13.03 School-16.9534 County-6.7 (Per $10,000 value) Based on market value, not capital value. AR: If property changes hands before 5 years is up, all bets are off. MM: Encourage people to take out more building permits and getting work done all at once (vs. doing smaller steps over a longer period of time). CB: Tompkins County does assesment, not city. (Usually order is reversed in most places.) Better deal for little guy, as similar to tax abatements that larger developers are getting. Apply to both rental properties and homeowners. GK: Will at least break even and be less likely to lose money. (City level) III. Rental Housing Forum and partnerships No response from Fall Creek outreach. Collegetown Fair: Oct 20, 1-4 pm. GK: Table at this event for potentially new members, RF: Do a form on campus? NS: Outreach via HSL, too.