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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02.10.21 RHAB Minutes1 Rental Housing Advisory Board Meeting Minutes February 10, 2021 Present: Alec Gulan, Lynnsey Erickson, Timothy Ernst, Linda Jevaltas, Todd Hutchison, Donn Lord Excused: Danny Garcia, Katrina DeGroot Staff: Allen Davis, Community Development Director Call to Order Mr. Ernst called the meeting to order at 3:30pm. Citizen Statements No one appeared for citizen statements. Approval of Minutes – December 9, 2020 The minutes of the December 9, 2020 meeting were approved with corrections for typos and a revision to the Affordable Housing Study item. (Erickson/Jevaltas) Discussion Regarding Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program (WRAP) with Representative from ADVOCAP Ms. Lu Scheer stated that the information she can share is incomplete, so she is asking that it not be published or shared publically with anyone at this time because she doesn’t have a lot of the details. The state of Wisconsin has received over $380,000,000 dollars to help people pay rent and utilities. The CAP agencies in the state of Wisconsin have been asked handle the assistance. ADVOCAP will be working with ESI again to use their database and the state will be cutting the checks. If landlords have past due tenants, the tenants should be encouraged to apply for emergency energy assistance. ESI will have a new dedicated number for this purpose on February 13th and the anticipated start date is February 22nd. ESI will be covering the entire state and not just the original counties they covered last time, so they’ve got a big job ahead of them. They do not have a back log this time. They’re starting out with $50,000,000 and ADVOCAP can pay up to 12 months of past due rent for tenants who have been negatively financially affected by COVID. They must show that they are at risk for being homeless or that their housing stability is in question. Priority will be given to people who are 50% or less median county income and persons who are at 80% are eligible. The funding is coming from the federal government this time and the rules are being written by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. She does not know if they will be able to assist with security deposits, late fees, or lot fees for mobile homes. There is no maximum amount for each month like last time. They are going to put a pre-screen on their website as soon as they know the specifics and will be sharing that information with 211. The state is ready to put everything out once they have the final guidance from the 2 Department of the Treasury. Mr. Davis asked how many dollars were available in Wisconsin. Ms. Scheer replied that there is over $380,000,000 set aside for utilities and for past due rent. Mr. Davis asked if that was just for Wisconsin. Ms. Scheer replied affirmatively. Mr. Lord asked if landlords applied and not the renters. Ms. Scheer replied that that is incorrect. There has been talk that landlords can apply, but she does not have specifics and she is concerned about duplication when it comes to having both landlords and tenants apply. There are other organizations that also have assistance through CDBG or other funds and ADVOCAP is looking at ways to ensure people are being directed to the best possible source for assistance. Ms. Erickson asked if distribution will be first come first serve or if a targeted distribution is planned for certain income levels. Ms. Scheer replied that it is first come first serve. They believe this program has enough funds to run through September. There is talk that there’s going to be a reallocation meaning unspent monies from one state may be reallocated to another state in need. They are motivated to spend as much as they can from now until September. She is hesitant to say anything definitive because she hasn’t received their handbook and they haven’t received training yet. Mr. Lord stated that he attended another webinar earlier today where he was told that landlords would be applying and that tenants would need to consent to the landlord applying. He asked if Ms. Scheer had heard anything like that. Ms. Scheer replied that she heard something similar to this, but she doesn’t want people to think that this is what landlords should do on behalf of their tenants. She has also heard that if landlords do not want to accept funds to keep them in housing, they can write checks to the tenants. She cannot say if there are exceptions and she does not know enough about the rules to speak on that. Mr. Lord replied that he was told that 20% of the money would be allocated for energy assistance. Ms. Scheer replied that she has not heard anything about that. Mr. Lord replied that he knows there’s around $390,000,000 for Wisconsin and $322,000,000 of that is allocated by county. He asked how much she thinks Winnebago County will receive. Ms. Scheer replied that there will not be an allocation by county. Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay are part of entitlement communities and have separate dollars. 3 Mr. Lord replied that he has a link for the U.S. Department of the Treasury he can send to Ms. Scheer. Ms. Scheer replied that she has the link and was on the phone with the funders today. She appreciates Mr. Lord’s offer, but she needs the information coming directly from the funders. Mr. Lord replied that he is not trying to cause confusion, but he wants to make sure people are getting good information. He wanted to make her aware that people are saying something else. He wants everyone to have the correct information. Ms. Scheer replied that she absolutely agrees, adding that no one has the final rules from the Department of the Treasury. The rules that were issued originally have been pulled and are no longer accurate. She will be happy to share with as many people as she can when the rules are finalized and clear. Mr. Lord asked if they had a timeline on this. Ms. Scheer replied that ESI will start the hotline on February 15th and are expected to roll it out on February 22nd. They will receive guidelines from the Department of the Treasury any minute. They need to double check the guidelines before sharing the forms. She was told ADVOCAP needs to be ready on February 22nd, but no one has been trained and she has no paperwork. The governor and the counties will put out press releases. A lot of people are using old information that is no longer accurate and she does not want to spread incorrect information. Mr. Lord asked if ADVOCAP would be the agency for funding in this area. Ms. Scheer replied affirmatively. Ms. Jevaltas asked for clarification on the median income amounts. Mr. Davis replied that it depends on the household size and offered to provide a chart for the next meeting. Ms. Scheer replied that the number usually changes in March. Mr. Lord replied that they will definitely be below 80% if the person is unemployed due to COVID. Ms. Scheer replied that if she is remembering correctly, a family of four at 80% is earning approximately $64,000 annually. They are finding some households earning less because only one person is working and other households where people are just unemployed. A lot of people have not really been affected by COVID long term, but they know that a lot of families are suffering. She is sure they will start getting calls on February 22nd and they have 12 people who will be working on it part- time. She is looking to hire additional part-time staff and they are recruiting for those positions now. Mr. Davis asked how much ADVOCAP will be spending in counties. 4 Ms. Scheer replied that the state has is not giving allocations by county. It is one pot for the state of Wisconsin except for the entitlement agencies she shared. They are putting $50,000,000 in now and will replenish as needed. Mr. Ernst stated that he will be interested to hear how the numbers work out and he wished Ms. Scheer and her staff good luck with the rollout. Ms. Scheer thanked Mr. Ernst and stated that she is making an effort to compile better data for Oshkosh and is planning on attending the April meeting. Approve Tenant Bill of Rights Mr. Ernst stated that this item was presented at the last meeting. The only new revision is clarification on the protected classes so that the language is consistent with housing standards nationwide. Another addition is specific links and contact information for relevant agencies in section four. Mr. Hutchison stated that he did not attend the last meeting, so this is the first time he is seeing this. He cannot get on board with the resolution because he disagrees with most of the clauses. Mr. Ernst replied that this was also on the agenda two meetings ago and the decision was made to make revisions after those meetings, but he would be happy to hear Mr. Hutchison’s objections. Mr. Hutchison replied that he doesn’t really have a problem with the Bill of Rights. He has a problem with the resolution. He thinks the imbalance of power between landlords and tenants probably depends on your perspective. Mr. Ernst replied that he would argue that the imbalance disadvantages tenants. Mr. Hutchison replied that he understands Mr. Ernst’s perspective, but he disagrees with it. The same is true for state lawmakers having preference for landlord rights. Perhaps some do, but he doesn’t know that they all do. The same is true for housing providers. There may be some, but certainly not all. It seems rather inflammatory and confrontational between landlords and tenants and he doesn’t think that’s what RHAB is trying to do here. He’s only one vote, but he would vote against it. Mr. Ernst asked if he would be open to amending some of those clauses to address his concern. Mr. Hutchison replied affirmatively. Ms. Jevaltas asked if Mr. Ernst took the resolution from Madison or Milwaukee. Mr. Ernst replied that it was modeled after Kansas City’s Bill of Rights. The resolution is based on what has transpired with changes to state law in order to affect changes to local law pertaining to housing. Ms. Jevaltas replied that she has a comment about the resolution. Having studied Social Work and 5 having taught Social Work practice at the University, she knows that history bears these things out and that there are facts to support them. There’s an apartment association in the city of Oshkosh, but no tenant association in the City of Oshkosh and that’s just one example of the imbalance of power. She is not going to go through each clause, but when she read each one she thought “well yeah, that’s a given” for all of them. She just wanted to share her opinion, understanding, and experience. Ms. Erickson stated that she doesn’t want to minimize the experiences of some renters in Oshkosh, but she wonders if adding “some” to certain clauses so that they don’t imply all state lawmakers or all housing providers would help more folks feel more comfortable with the resolution. Mr. Ernst replied that Mr. Hutchison said he would be supportive of changes to those clauses. Ms. Erickson asked if Oshkosh added gender identity and expression as a protected class. Mr. Ernst replied affirmatively. Ms. Erickson asked if that was included in the Bill of Rights. Ms. Jevaltas replied that it is not listed there. Mr. Ernst replied that he doesn’t know how the federal government views the word sex in this instance. If it doesn’t include gender identity, he would be fine with adding it to the list. He asked for suggestions for revisions to clauses that would maintain accuracy and avoid inflammatory reactions. Mr. Hutchison asked for clarification on the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act. Mr. Ernst replied that it sets standards for landlord tenant law. Several states are members, but Wisconsin is not. His understanding is that it is a voluntary agreement at the national level between states about landlord tenant laws. Some states have their own protections without being a member. Wisconsin has some laws on the books. Other states such as Arkansas have no tenant protection on their books. It helps establish where the gaps in protections are in the state. Mr. Hutchison replied that he doesn’t know what’s in there, so he would have to remove that clause entirely. For clauses two, three, and four, adding the word some would make him comfortable. He’s still uncomfortable with the idea of us saying there’s an imbalance of power. Maybe there’s an imbalance of power, but if you talked to some landlords, they’re thinking that the imbalance is the other way around. What we’re trying to portray through the document is that the imbalance is through the landlords and a lot of time landlords feel like their hands are tied through the courts and other methods, so they really think the imbalance is in the other direction. He doesn’t think he can support that. Mr. Ernst replied that he would argue that the court system preferences landlords over tenants, especially low income tenants who don’t always have the opportunity to go to court to defend themselves or argue for unreturned security deposits. That fact is taken advantage of by certain landlords. As Ms. Jevaltas pointed out, there is an apartment association in the area and there is no 6 tenant association. He would be happy to explain his experience with trying to start a tenant association again if anyone is interested, but he thinks his story anecdotally supports that there is a major imbalance in power if nothing else. Furthermore all recent changes to state law have benefited landlords directly. The omnibus landlord tenant bill was written by landlords for landlords and preferences landlords without giving anything to the tenant. At both the local and state level in terms of who is wielding power and who has a voice, there are landlord friendly legislatures who sponsor these bills and tell him things like it doesn’t matter as long as it gets passed. That speaks to an imbalance to him, but this is a datable question. Ms. Jevaltas stated that the very fact that there is a Rental Housing Advisory Board speaks to the imbalance. There is a Rental Housing Advisory Board. Why is that? Probably because there are a lot of violations with the inspections that are done. That says something. Why are there six violations every time an inspection is done? That says something. Mr. Ernst replied that the language of the imbalance power clause doesn’t necessarily suggest one way or the other. The imbalance can still exist and affect both sides of the issue. Perhaps tenants are empowered in some ways that landlords aren’t. His argument is that as far as things that matter, in terms of finances and habitability, there is clear legislative preference for landlords over tenants. Ms. Jevaltas replied that at the very start of the COVID crisis, she asked if the City of Oshkosh was able to put a moratorium on evictions, but of course there’s a law that says they can’t. Thank goodness the federal government was able to do that, but could Oshkosh do that? No. Mr. Ernst replied that he doesn’t know to what extent the county is willing to act as they’ve seen how the COVID-related discussions went at the county level. He thinks what they need is a specific recommendation for the revisions to the resolution. He advised Mr. Hutchison to make a motion for specific changes and get a second and then we can discuss. If the motion passes, he will be happy to revise and resubmit for the April meeting. Mr. Hutchison replied that without taking the time to try to figure it out, he would strike the first and fifth ones about imbalance, strike the sixth one entirely, and then change the two, three, and four by adding the word some. That would be his argument. Mr. Ernst asked why he would like to strike six. Mr. Hutchison replied that he’s not even sure what it is so he has a hard time putting something in there if he’s never read the document. Mr. Ernst replied that Mr. Hutchison had an opportunity to familiarize himself with the document about four months ago. He will send out the document again, but that has always been in there. He asked if Mr. Hutchison disagreed that COVID has caused problems in this regard. Mr. Hutchison replied that absolutely he agrees it has caused problems, but it has also caused a lot of problems for a lot of landlords as well as tenants. He doesn’t know that it is necessarily an imbalance. 7 Mr. Ernst replied that the presence of the eviction moratoriums seems to indicate that there is an imbalance. He suggested amending the sixth clause to read that COVID-19 has negatively impacted relationships between landlords and tenants in Oshkosh. Mr. Hutchison replied that would be fine. Motion to amend 21-01 by Hutchison to strike the first and sixth clauses in their entirety, add the word some to clause two before lawmakers, add the word some to clause three before housing providers, add the word some to clause four before housing providers, and revise the fifth clause to state that COVID-19 has negatively affected relationships between tenants and landlords. Second by Lord. Motion passed 3-2. (Ayes: Erickson, Hutchison, Lord. Nos: Jevaltas, Ernst.) Motion to approve 21-01 Approve Tenant Bill of Rights by Erickson. No second; motion failed. Mr. Davis stated that we can re-draft it based on the amendment that was voted on, but he will need to check who can put this back on the agenda for a vote because it dies due to lack of a second. Mr. Ernst replied that he would be interested in revisiting it at some time. He will be happy to redraft and resubmit for consideration in the future. Mr. Davis replied that he will check with their legal department to see what procedure they need to follow to revisit it and he will report on it at the next meeting. Mr. Jevaltas asked if Ms. Erickson’s suggestion on gender identity could be added. Mr. Ernst replied that at this point it has failed. We can make revisions later after we know how to proceed from Mr. Davis. Approve 2021 Strategic Plan and Action Plan Mr. Ernst stated that the strategic plan provides an overview of RHAB’s general mission. The action plan reflects more specific ways to accomplish those goals. Mr. Hutchison asked if RHAB has seven board members or nine. Mr. Ernst replied that there are seven and asked if alternates should be added to the membership description. Mr. Davis replied that he believed we could do that since that would be accurate. Mr. Hutchison asked if RHAB actually reports to Council every month. 8 Mr. Ernst replied that Ms. Erickson is the Council liaison. Ms. Erickson replied that she reports monthly at Council meetings as the liaison. Mr. Ernst stated that this is the same document that was on the agenda at last time, but it was tabled so that there could be more votes. Ms. Jevaltas stated that she agrees with what is written here. Motion to approve the 2021 Strategic Plan and Action Plan by Jevaltas. Second by Erickson. Motion passed 5-0. Mr. Ernst recommended that everyone look over the strategic plan to bring actionable items to complete those goals to the next meeting. Winnebago County Eviction Data Ms. Erickson stated that she just updated the totals and this is from her work with the Winnebago County Eviction Task Force. This is data pulled from CCAP, the public court access records. In December 2020 there were a total of 51 eviction filings for a total of 637 filings in 2020. There were a total of 47 filings in January 2021. Mr. Ernst asked if there appeared to be fewer eviction filings in 2020 than in 2019 and 2018. Ms. Erickson replied affirmatively. To give some context, there were three different eviction moratoriums in place throughout 2020 including the state moratorium from March to May, the CARES Act federal moratorium for people in rental properties with federal financing from the end of March to July, and the CDC eviction moratorium that began in early September and is still in place for renters who meet certain criteria and sign a declaration form. Mr. Ernst asked if 2020 eviction filings have met and in some instances exceeded the average even with the three eviction moratoriums. Ms. Erickson replied affirmatively, adding that they had been seeing an increase starting in 2016. Ms. Jevaltas stated that there was also rental assistance in 2020. Mr. Lord stated that one of the biggest problems the rental community has is the supply of rental housing. In 2016, there were 24,697 units which decreased by 2019. To keep up with the supply, they needed 100-150 new units within a year. That will be a real problem for rehousing anyone with an eviction. Whenever you have a stagnant supply and demand is increasing, you’re going to find that standards for people to re-rent will increase. That’s not necessarily evictions, but he was a little surprised that the supply of affordable housing is actually going down and not expected to increase 9 with economic conditions being what they are. Mr. Ernst replied that it is something that was mentioned in the affordable housing workshop in September and it will be in the scope of that study. The availability of housing is within the scope of that study, so there will be more specific data in the future. Mr. Hutchison asked if we will have the data updated at every meeting or if this is a one-time thing. Ms. Erickson replied that she would be happy to bring this data to every meeting. She has been updating it for the task force anyway, so that would be fine. Mr. Hutchison replied that it is good information to have. He asked if she knew how many renters there are county wide so it could be tracked as a percentage. Ms. Erickson replied that the eviction rate is at the bottom of the table. She will have to update it for 2020, but the number of renter occupied housing units divided by how many evictions were filed is the eviction rate or percentage of eviction. Website and Social Media Discussion Ms. Jevaltas stated that at the last meeting, she said to take a look at social media and come up with suggestions for improvement. She is wondering if it would be appropriate to put the minutes on the Facebook page. Mr. Ernst replied that he did not see a problem with it. Mr. Davis replied that he would wait until the minutes are adopted before posting them. Ms. Jevaltas asked who is responsible for doing that. Mr. Ernst replied that he thought Mr. Koelbl was in charge of social media updates. Mr. Davis replied that he could send the minutes to Mr. Koelbl for posting. Anything else they’d like to have posted should be sent directly to him or Mr. Koelbl directly. He actually included the new resource as an agenda item because it came that came his attention and they have posted that as well. Mr. Ernst replied that it was a pretty interesting document that laid things out pretty clearly and could definitely be an easy to access and understand resource for fair housing guidelines. He asked if it was already on Facebook or if it needed to put it on there. Mr. Davis replied that he does not use Facebook personally, so he will have to check to see if and when it was posted. He will report that at the next meeting. Mr. Ernst replied that we might as well post our meetings if it’s not already being done. 10 Mr. Davis replied that meetings and agendas could be posted. Ms. Erickson replied that since the meetings are recorded and posted on Oshkosh Media, she wonders if they could post the YouTube video in case anyone is interested. Mr. Ernst replied that he thinks we should. Other Business Mr. Ernst asked if the State of the City is happening and if RHAB is involved as they have been in the past. Mr. Davis replied that he does not have details, but it will be virtual. If you are contacted, you will be involved. If you are not contacted, you will not be involved. At this point, Community Development hasn’t been contacted and he doesn’t believe RHAB has been contacted. Ms. Jevaltas asked if they will receive reporting from Inspections in the future or if it is just on hold. Mr. Davis replied that it is all on hold except for complaints because they have not tried to reach out to any tenants since last February or March. Ms. Jevaltas asked if we could get a report on complaints. Mr. Davis replied affirmatively. Mr. Ernst replied that he would also be interested in that report. If there is data available from the last twelve months because we haven’t gotten many reports and he would be interested in seeing the whole year’s-worth of data. Mr. Davis replied that they will have it available for the April meeting. Mr. Ernst stated that RHAB will continue to have action plan updates at future meetings. Mr. Lord asked if Ms. Scheer would return for more updates. Mr. Davis replied affirmatively. Ms. Erickson asked if the housing study will have made any progress by the next meeting. Mr. Davis replied that they want to have it done by May or June so his expectation is that everyone will be contacted before the April meeting. He doesn’t recall having any schedule for interim reports, but he can provide an update at the next meeting. Adjournment 11 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:28 PM. (Jevaltas/Erickson)