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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.14.20 RHAB Minutes1 Rental Housing Advisory Board Meeting Minutes October 14, 2020 Present: Alec Gulan, Lynnsey Erickson, Timothy Ernst, Linda Jevaltas, Donn Lord Excused: Danny Garcia, Agnes Payne, Todd Hutchison, Katrina DeGroot Staff: Allen Davis, Community Development Director Call to Order Mr. Ernst called the meeting to order at 3:32 PM. Citizen Statements No one appeared for citizen statements. Approval of Minutes-August 12, 2020 The minutes of the August 12, 2020 meeting were approved as distributed. (Jevaltas, Erickson) Discussion Regarding Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program (WRAP) with Representative from ADVOCAP Ms. Scheer stated that ADVOCAP has spent $1,142,247 and helped 683 separate households. For Winnebago County, they have spent $688,254 and assisted 396 households. $83,000 has been spent this week and they have a remaining balance of a little over $100,000. The numbers are current as of last Wednesday. Governor Evers approved another five million until November 25th. ADVOCAP will be requesting additional funds because they are currently spending between $75,000 and $100,000 weekly. They will probably have a cut-off date of November 9th because it takes time to process the paperwork. They are pretty much up to date and the waitlist is going well, although some people have yet to receive their unemployment. ADVOCAP is able to pay December rent, so they are going to help as many households as they can until the end of the eviction moratorium. They are working on projects to help people beyond December. They will be requesting between $150,000 and $250,000 for the communities that they serve. Ms. Jevaltas asked for confirmation that there are hardly any people on the waitlist currently. Ms. Scheer replied affirmatively, adding that each of her twelve staff is working with around ten people currently. As far as the wait list is concerned, people are waiting hours instead of weeks for a response. They are also now applying for energy services dollars. Additional CARES money also went into that program. Ms. Erickson asked how much ADVOCAP would be receiving out of the five million announced by the governor. 2 Ms. Scheer replied that they will be requesting between $150,000 and $250,000. They are going to be conservative with their request because they do not want to hold money they are not spending. Some counties are having difficulty spending all of their money. Mr. Ernst asked how many more households ADVOCAP will be able to service with the remaining balance. Ms. Scheer replied that they have around $120,000 remaining, which is about a week or a week and a half at the rate they’re going. They are still fighting some landlords who need confirmation that their tenant is working with ADVOCAP and some landlords who are choosing to evict. Ms. Jevaltas asked if ADVOCAP is able to assist with mortgage payments. Ms. Scheer replied that the money can only be used for rental assistance, adding that around 100 people have already met the $3,000 maximum. Ms. Jevaltas asked if there are any problems in the community with people being unable to pay their mortgages and if ADVOCAP has received any inquiries about this. Ms. Scheer replied that they have received a few calls and that the county is operating a program. A lot of local banks are working with people for loan modifications. Some banks are doing a modification with a six-month balloon, meaning they will be required to pay in full in six months, which is a hardship for a lot of people. Right now they are looking toward next year and what funding is available. Ms. Erickson stated that county assistance for mortgages is available through Human Services. The deadline for accepting applications is October 15th. She is not sure if they are extending the deadline or how the program is going, but it has been available since September 1st. Mr. Davis asked if Ms. Scheer had numbers specifically for Oshkosh. Ms. Scheer replied that she only had the Winnebago County numbers, but the percentages have remained consistent. Mr. Ernst asked if tenants are being evicted because landlords are refusing the money. Ms. Scheer replied affirmatively, adding that part of the condition is that landlords will continue renting to their tenant and working with them after receiving payment. They have had some tenants who paid three months’ rent early on, have now been evicted, and are requesting down payment assistance, but have already met the $3,000 maximum. Mr. Ernst asked if Ms. Scheer could speak to how these evictions interact with the CDC moratorium. Ms. Scheer replied that she is not sure. She knows that some judges are providing paperwork at 3 eviction hearings and ADVOCAP does make referrals to Legal Action. Ms. Erickson stated that she is waiting for a response from Legal Action, so she is not sure of the exact number of people who have been able to utilize the moratorium. The Housing Authority has been able to provide the form to tenants. She is hopeful that it is being utilized, but she knows there is a lot of confusion regarding what point in the process they can sign the form and how that works. Mr. Lord asked how many landlords are turning down the funding and why they are turning it down. Ms. Scheer replied that they don’t always know why. Sometimes the landlord only says that they would like to move forward with the eviction and they refuse to complete the paperwork. There may be other behaviors besides non-payment. Some landlords are always willing to work with tenants and some are not. Mr. Davis asked if the CDC eviction moratorium still allows landlords to evict for reasons other than non-payment of rent. Ms. Scheer replied affirmatively. Mr. Lord stated that there are four conditions that need to be met for an exception to the CDC moratorium. Affordable Housing Workshop Discussion Mr. Davis stated that the direction from Council was to follow staff’s recommendation to begin a housing study that would include extremely low and very low income households. As the consultant pointed out, Oshkosh does not have enough units to serve those households or upper income households. Staff has been working over the last week to put together a request for qualifications to send out to consulting firms and are expecting a proposal back in front of Council by the end of the year so that it can be completed in the spring or early summer of 2021. The focus for staff is how to work with City partners to encourage more housing on both ends of the income spectrum. Ms. Jevaltas asked if the City could begin working to address the issue before a proposal is returned, adding that finding housing in Oshkosh has been an issue for several years and that there are several things the City could explore now instead of waiting another six months for the result. Mr. Davis replied with information about the existing programs at City Hall and the requirements of those programs. Ms. Jevaltas replied that it would be great if the City could take care of the administrative items that were identified at the workshop instead of waiting. Mr. Davis replied that City staff will review what they are doing currently and identify what they could be doing short-term to bring to the next meeting. 4 Mr. Lord stated that it is important to address the changing demographics of renters and that the shortage seems to be with larger and smaller units instead of two bedroom units. Ms. Erickson agreed, adding that there is a shortage of accessible units also. Mr. Davis replied that accessibility and demographics are two points that they included in the scope of the request. Mr. Ernst stated that all of the additional options seem worth exploring if they can be included in the scope of the request at no additional cost. Accessibility is of special importance because the board has been brought ADA accessibility issues in the past. Focusing on the elderly as a changing demographic could provide an opportunity to work with the Commission on Aging for better results. Tenant Bill of Rights Discussion Mr. Ernst stated other communities have taken the initiative to pass what is called a tenant bill of rights. The bill does not have the force of law, rather it is a resolution or statement that tenants have rights, that laws exist to help protect those rights, and that equitable treatment for tenants is required by the law. The top of the document identifies a few of the problems that exist in the community with the imbalance of power between landlords and tenants. It is modeled after other communities and broken out into three key areas: right to justice and fair and equitable treatment under the law, right to peaceful enjoyment of the dwelling, and right to health and safety. Each area identifies common areas of concern along with state statutes. This has been on the strategic plan for a few iterations. Ms. Jevaltas stated that it is a good idea to have it in easily understood language because it will be useless if people cannot understand what is written. Mr. Ernst stated that he presented the idea to Mr. Rohloff a while ago, and he seemed to think a resolution of this type would have a meaningful effect. Ms. Erickson asked what the intended outcome of the resolution is and if any policies would result from the passage of the resolution. Mr. Ernst replied that he does not have any specific ideas for policies at this time, but he thinks it is important that the City stands with vulnerable people against people who are misrepresenting their rights to them. The board has evidence that this has happened and continues to happen. He hopes that tenants feel less afraid to engage the City and are more willing to engage with their landlords to have frank and open lines of communication instead of relying on assumptions, fears, or threats. He would also like to see tenants begin to organize in this community. He doesn’t know to what extent the bill of rights would help achieve that, but the right to organize is specifically listed in there. Ms. Erickson asked if it would be useful to include some resources for tenants. Mr. Ernst replied that resources could probably be added and that type of language might have a place in there somewhere. 5 Ms. Jevaltas stated that maybe the bill of rights could reference the brochure or the website that provide resources for tenants. Mr. Ernst replied that it would make sense to add or reference tenant resources within the bill of rights, more specifically financial resources like ADVOCAP and legal resources like Legal Action. Mr. Lord stated that some of the issues they have get repeated over and over again, so it would be beneficial if they had a list of the most common issues and how to go about solving them that could be easily put together. Ms. Erickson asked if the most common issues would be for tenants or landlords. Mr. Lord replied that both would be beneficial for things like security deposits and notices for repairs. Longer documents are less likely to be read, so it would be a good thing if there was something concise and simple for the common issues. Ms. Jevalatas replied that it is a good idea, but the goal of the bill of rights is to help renters feel more empowered. The other details are already available on the website. Mr. Lord stated that no one seeks out the resources until there is an issue, so it would be nice to have a quick read of the most common issues. It doesn’t need to be comprehensive. Ms. Erickson replied that she wonders if it would be something that lives on the City’s website under rental housing or rental complaints. She doesn’t know where tenants would think to go to find that information, but it could be housed on the website. Mr. Davis replied that it could be posted on the City’s website and there are a range of places it could be linked. Mr. Lord stated that they could create a document explaining the ten biggest mistakes tenants make to cover the information concisely. Ms. Scheer stated that Rent Smart is a good resource to provide. Mr. Ernst stated that he will add Rent Smart to the list of resources. He cannot think off the top of his head of the ten things landlords and tenants should be working on together. If Mr. Lord would like to draft it for the next meeting, the board can discuss it as a potential addition. Mr. Lord replied that he does not know what the ten would consist of, but one of the biggest things is security deposits. When he asks renters what they know about the notice to enter an apartment to make a repair, he hears all sorts of answers. He thinks there are some common misunderstandings that could be cleared up with a simple vehicle to do that. Ms. Erickson stated that UW-Oshkosh’s website has a section on off-campus housing and it looks like 6 they have something similar to what Mr. Lord is talking about called a renters need to know document that gives some tips for off campus students. The board could look at that example and take some pieces from that. Mr. Lord replied that he thinks it is important to just list resources where people can go without us having to recreate the wheel. Mr. Ernst asked Mr. Lord why a list is preferable in this case because some of the examples Mr. Lord provided like security deposits and entry are already present in the document. Mr. Lord replied that he understands what Mr. Ernst is saying, but there still seems to be a lot of misunderstanding and misinformation out there. Mr. Ernst agreed, adding that is part of the reason why he proposed the document the way it is. Ms. Jevaltas stated that she agreed with Mr. Ernst, adding that the purpose of the bill of rights is not about making sure people have resources. It is about empowering renters so that they feel they can search for resources. To offer a bill of rights for renters is a powerful thing in and of itself because people aren’t even going to seek out resources if they’re afraid to. You can have a lot of resources out there, but it someone is afraid to move with regard to their landlord or rent, it doesn’t matter how many resources are out there, they aren’t going to seek them out. Ms. Erickson agreed with Ms. Jevaltas, stating this is a good first step for the board to take. Mr. Ernst stated that he will bring an updated draft to the next meeting with the list of resources they discussed. Review and Update Strategic Plan Mr. Ernst stated that the vacant building registry items can be eliminated because they are complete. Mr. Davis replied that staff plans to begin the implementation of that on January 1, 2021. Mr. Ernst stated that many items could be updated to recognize the COVID crisis and the impact it has on what the board is doing. Ms. Erickson stated that maybe they could add monitoring the continued need for rental assistance due to COVID-19. She is not sure what action that could look like yet, but it might be good for us to keep in mind. Mr. Ernst agreed with Ms. Erickson. Ms. Jevaltas stated that we might want to add to stay informed of what is going on with the City in terms of available housing. 7 Mr. Ernst replied that it was a good idea given that the board’s work touches on the goals of the affordable housing study. Another specific change is on the first page under the advise column, 10-12 meetings per year should be revised to six per year. The board created the rental inspections districts as well so that can be removed. Mr. Davis stated that the fifth bullet point about reporting to Council on a regular basis could be updated with Council giving all the board and commissions representatives on Council an opportunity to update the Council monthly. Mr. Ernst agreed, adding that monitoring COVID related issues could probably be added under Education. Mr. Davis stated that he fully anticipates staff will be suggesting that the consultants for the housing study interview board members, so that should be added to the list because he expects a lot of participation from the board. Mr. Ernst agreed, adding that under training programs Rent Smart 2019 should be updated for the current year or indicate that the board supports the mission as long as feasible given the pandemic. Ms. Erickson replied that the year could be removed. Rent Smart will be moving forward virtually and they have had a lot of participation from Winnebago County. Ms. Jevaltas stated that she has not looked at the website, but she will take a look at it to see if it is up to date or if there is anything that should be added or removed. Ms. Erickson stated that keeping an eye out to make sure things are user-friendly and accessible is important. An effort could be made to make it easier for folks who are trying to find information because it seems like there are a lot of different things in different places on the website. Mr. Ernst stated that something along the lines of proper monitoring and updating of online resources and online communications makes sense. Mr. Davis stated that staff will make the updates and bring to the December meeting so that RHAB has the action plan in place for 2021. Ms. Jevalatas replied that Council likes to review that from time to time. Mr. Ernst stated that the board will review the updated tenant bill of rights and updated strategic plan and take action on them at the December meeting. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:35 PM. (Erickson/Jevaltas)