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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.13.2021 Rental Housing Advisory Board Full AgendaRental Housing Advisory Board Wednesday, October 13, 2021 3:30 PM Meeting Information: Link: https://tinyurl.com/46ss3jy9 Password: RiHA5TpxA52 (74425879 from phones and video systems) Phone Number: 1-510-338-9438 Access Code: 2555 368 4330 To Whom It May Concern: Please note the City of Oshkosh Rental Housing Advisory Board will meet on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 at 3:30pm via WebEx to consider the following agenda: I. Call to Order II. Roll Call III. Welcome New Member – TJ Hobbs IV. Citizen Statements V. Approval of Minutes – August 11, 2021 VI. ADVOCAP Rental Assistance Update VII. Rental Inspections Update VIII. Social Media Update IX. Winnebago County Eviction Data Update X. Housing Study Update XI. Public Information Campaign – Tenant and Landlord Rights i. Pandemic Eviction Expungement - https://legaltuneup.org XII. Other Business XIII. Adjournment Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 1 Rental Housing Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 11, 2021 Present: Lynnsey Erickson, Linda Jevaltas, Tom Hutchison, Donn Lord Excused: Lydia Christensen, Timothy Ernst, Lateria Garrett, Alec Gulan Staff: Kelly Nieforth; Interim Community Development Director, John Zarate; Chief Building Official, Mark Lyons; Planning Services Manager I. Call to Order Mr. Hutchison called the meeting to order at 3:31pm. II. Roll Call Roll call was taken. A quorum was not declared present until Mr. Lord and Ms. Jevaltas joined the meeting. III. Citizen Statements There were no citizen statements. IV. ADVOCAP Rental Assistance Update Ms. Lu Scheer stated they are still receiving a lot of calls with the eviction moratorium continuing through October. ADVOCAP and Energy Services Inc (ESI) have spent a combined $3,904,000, 49% of which was spent by ADVOCAP and 51% of which was spent by ESI. Wisconsin is ranked 13th in the amount of money spent and ranked 8th for money spent per capita. 90% of the money is being spent on past due and current rents. They’re also paying current and arrears for energy, gas, and electric. They’re stilling receiving applications from people owing from back in 2020. She cannot provide demographic data for ESI, but ADVOCAP spends an average of $3,522 per household. They have helped 11,008 households in the four counties they serve. The numbers are not unduplicated, but she estimates they have spent $ 2,307,000 in Winnebago County to provide assistance for 655 households and $1,384,000 in the City of Oshkosh to provide assistance for 393 households. The amount of phone calls they receive tripled after the state mailed out postcards. They received over 700 phone calls regarding financial assistance at their Oshkosh office. Not all requests were eligible or specifically COVID-related, but the requests have increased substantially this week. Ms. Erickson stated that she received a postcard in the mail and showed it to the group. Mr. Hutchison stated that he received one as well. Ms. Scheer stated that next she will be meeting with Channel 5 next week to discuss the WERA program and highlight what they’re doing differently in Oshkosh, including the work the Eviction Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 2 Prevention Task Force is doing to setup mediation assistance. ADVOCAP also provides coaching services. They’re not just handing out the funds to people, they’re also asking about the balance in their life and their assistance needs. They’re hiring two additional part-time employees for WERA because the demand is so high and they want to serve people in a timely manner. Mr. Lord joined the meeting at 3:37pm Ms. Scheer asked if her updates are interesting and helpful or if there is anything else they would like her to bring to the next meeting. Mr. Hutchison replied that he personally finds it interesting and he appreciates the time that she spends attending the meetings and providing updates. He’s not sure what they do with it as a group and he’s not sure if it provides any value to the City if the board does not do anything with the information. Ms. Scheer replied that sometimes the information is posted in the Oshkosh Herald which helps get the word out. What it has highlighted is the lack of truly affordable housing for people and available rental units in general. People are just stuck. They don’t have units to move into and it’s very difficult for a lot of families right now. Twice per year ADVOCAP completes what they call a “point of time” with their homeless program where they literally go out and count how many people are sheltered in place and how many people are unsheltered. That number has increased by 50% since January. It was more evident this year due to the timing of EAA and the storm, but it is real and it is a huge problem. Ms. Erickson asked if they are seeing any barriers for folks who are needing information about this and if the board can do anything beyond sharing the information. Ms. Scheer replied that the board sharing the information has been helpful. She thinks landlords are doing a good job if they’ve used one of their programs previously because they understand how it works and are encouraging their tenants. They still have smaller landlords who aren’t participating. ADVOCAP is interested in collecting this data because they need to identify the needs and gaps in the community to work to find solutions. The postcards were very helpful in getting the word out, but they also created a false expectation that ADVOCAP would automatically pay your rent for 15 months. They are dealing with a lot of disappointment from that. They hire part-time because staff can burn out from hearing applicant’s stories. It can be pretty rough somedays. Ms. Erickson asked how long it takes for someone to go through the application process on average. Ms. Scheer replied that they are about ten business days out of contacting people and it needs to be completed within 30 days. It is a matter of chasing the paperwork down. A single staff person usually has between 25 and 30 open applications they’re working on. The landlords who know how to do it are very efficient, but sometimes the applications are incomplete and so there is some back and forth. Mr. Lord asked how many applicants actually receive assistance and how many are turned away. Ms. Scheer replied that both ADVOCAP and ESI have a lot of pre-screening online and the pre-screen Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 3 does not allow them to continue if they’re not eligible. Right now the number is higher due to the postcard mailing. Explaining the eligibility requirements also takes up a lot of their time. Some households have reached the 15 months maximum. It is scary for them because they don’t know where their next check is coming from. She knows that there’s going to be a WERA 2.0. She doesn’t know when it starts, but they are being told it can help with up to 18 months, which is only three additional months for the households who have already reached 15 months. Nobody has any idea what this fall is going to look like and there are a lot of concerns. Mr. Lord stated that somewhere around 1/9th of landlords have started selling their buildings. It is concerning because there might be even fewer affordable units available when this is all over with. He just had a unit up for rent and the response was unbelievable. He had someone offer more than he was asking for rent to get the place, which is just unheard of. Ms. Scheer replied that one of their concerns are the number of landlords turning their properties over to management companies that are now charging astronomical and unreasonable fees. It’s one thing to charge $25 for past due rent, but $10 every day until it’s paid is another thing, especially for tenants who are willing to pay what they can. She knows of someone was behind in rent by $40 and ended up paying $206 because of the situation. Mr. Lord asked if the fees might be automatically applied through software the management companies are using. Ms. Scheer replied that thee fees wouldn’t be there if the policies did not exist. She is especially concerned about this with her homeless program because anyone with a blemish on their record is unable to find housing right now. Mr. Lord replied that he received a request to talk about people with criminal records applying for units. He doesn’t know what to tell them because there are so many applicants to choose from and people with criminal records are going to be at the bottom of the list. Ms. Scheer replied that it’s a whole other systemic issue along with employment. She doesn’t need to tell anyone that the housing market is crazy right now. She doesn’t blame landlords for selling their buildings, but it’s also a real hardship for the renters. She asked Mr. Lord if the Apartment Association is meeting currently. Mr. Lord replied that he needs to figure out that out, but they have a lot to talk about. Ms. Scheer stated that she would be happy to attend the next meeting and share new information then if they have any requests. RHAB thanked Ms. Scheer for her time. Ms. Jevaltas joined the meeting at 4:02pm. V. Approval of Minutes – June 9, 2021 Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 4 The minutes of the June 9, 2021 meeting were approved as written. (Erickson/Lord) VI. Meeting Format Update Ms. Nieforth stated that staff received direction from the City Manager that boards and commissions were to resume in person meetings beginning in September. As of today, that direction has changed again due to the rise in cases. The board can decide to meet in person with masks moving forward or they can continue to meet virtually. Mr. Hutchison stated that he thinks they should continue to meet virtually because they have a hard enough time getting a quorum as it is. Ms. Erickson stated that she can meet either way. Ms. Jevaltas stated that she would prefer to meet in person. Mr. Lord stated that either way works for him. Ms. Nieforth replied that she would follow up with the other members when she distributes the information from ADVOCAP. She will communicate the consensus to the group before the next meeting. Ms. Jevaltas stated that they made a decision to meet twice per month before COVID. She would like to return to meeting monthly temporarily due to the work they need to do with the public information campaign. Mr. Lord stated that he is happy with every two months. Mr. Zarate stated that the board changed to bimonthly due to quorum issues. They started the meeting today without a quorum, so that’s something to think about if they are deciding to meet monthly. Ms. Jevaltas replied that they have always had a quorum. This is the first time they did not have quorum and it was because of technology. They changed to every other month because their workload did not justify meeting once per month. At this point things have changed because of COVID, rental assistance, monitoring evictions, and the public information campaign. They’ve never not had a meeting. Someone can correct her if she’s wrong. Mr. Zarate replied that he did not say that they didn’t have a quorum. Members were frequently late and staff received a lot of last minute calls from members saying that they might not be able to make it. He just wanted to clarify that was part of the decision, but Ms. Jevaltas is correct that they’ve had quorums. Ms. Erickson asked if there were any openings for the board. Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 5 Mr. Lyons replied that one alternate spot is open. Mr. Lord replied that is an alternate and he doesn’t know what that means. Ms. Jevaltas replied that people appointed to the board have not shown up. Maybe they need a protocol for members who don’t show up after being appointed. This is important work and they need to choose people who are invested in the work. It’s a problem if they only meet six times per year and they don’t show up three times. Ms. Nieforth stated that she will review the attendance and see if there are any new applicants. Mr. Hutchison stated that he has been struggling for the last few months with what it is this board is actually doing or accomplishing. Most of the time they’re listening to get information and they share that information with their networks. These meetings take up a lot of staff time and he thinks there are better things for staff to be doing with that time. He asked Ms. Erickson if the board is providing any benefit to Council. He is not in favor of making staff sit through more of these meetings because it is not the best use of their time. Ms. Erickson replied that they share information a lot, but it would be beneficial if the board could strengthen their action plan or serve as the community arm for what staff are trying to accomplish. She agrees and feels like they’ve been spinning their wheels lately. Mr. Lord replied that he thinks the board disseminates information and provides an educational benefit to the public, but other than that he agrees that it doesn’t feel like much is accomplished. Ms. Jevaltas stated that she thinks this board is absolutely important and it was a huge struggle to get it started because there were a lot of people who didn’t want the board to exist. This board is here to monitor the rental inspections and they are working on putting together a public information campaign for tenant and landlord rights. In the past they’ve put together brochures and attended the Farmer’s Market to distribute them. Maybe some people don’t want to work on tenant and landlord rights, but the board agreed that would be the next project. They are not doing nothing. They are gathering the information because they were tasked with monitoring rental housing. This board is important and doing important work and she’s looking forward to getting the public information campaign going, which is why she suggested they meet once per month so they can actually do some work instead of it just sitting there like it has been. Mr. Hutchison asked if Ms. Nieforth could poll the other members about the meeting format and frequency when she send outs the ADVOCAP information. Ms. Nieforth replied affirmatively. VII. Rental Inspections Update Mr. Zarate stated that they had 33 complaint-based inspections for the typical issues in the last two Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 6 months. The board had previously discussed started the mailings again in September. He would like to push that back until October and reevaluate at that time. Now does not seem like the right time to start the program again. Mr. Lord asked how long the rental inspection program has been on hold. Mr. Zarate replied that it stopped in February of last year. Mr. Lord replied that Mr. Zarate reported 19 complaint-based inspections last time and 33 this time. He asked if that was a large increase or if that was normal. Mr. Zarate replied that he has not heard from staff that they are overwhelmed or that there is a major increase. It ebbs and flows. Due to the fear of the moratorium expiring, some of what they might be seeing is tenants wanting to be told their apartment was not habitable so they do not have to pay past due rents to their landlords. Mr. Hutchison asked how many staff Mr. Zarate has. Mr. Zarate replied that there are eight inspectors, one of which is for rental housing. VIII. Social Media Update Mr. Zarate stated that the housing survey and COVID-19 tips for renters were posted to the Facebook page. They also posted information regarding the City’s curb appeal program, which is a way for residents or landlords to receive an interest free loan to improve the appearance of the front of their properties. Anything they would like to share on Facebook can be sent to staff. IX. Winnebago County Eviction Data Update Ms. Erickson shared updated data through July. There were 45 filings in July. The average for July for 2106-2019 is approximately 54 filings. She doesn’t include 2020 in the average because it was an atypical year. There were 58 total evictions filed for June. There have been 312 evictions filed for 2021 thus far. There were 637 evictions filed in 2020. The actual judgements that were recorded in the courts lags a little bit because it take some time to complete the court process. There were 61 evictions filed in the month of May, nine of which ended in an actual judgement of eviction. That is about 15% of the evictions filed. Mr. Lord asked what happens for the 85% that do not result in an actual eviction. Mr. Hutchison replied that a lot of times what happens is an agreement is made for a stipulated payment plan on the day of the court hearing. There is a legal services group outside the Milwaukee courthouse to help tenants file a stipulated agreement. Unfortunately the expense for filing is often added to the past due rent and the tenant is responsible for payment. Mr. Lord asked when it is removed from C-CAP if there is no judgement. Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 7 Mr. Hutchison replied that they can have it expunged, but they have to file for that and the landlord needs to agree to have it expunged from their record as well. Ms. Erickson stated that the majority of them seemed to be stipulated dismissals where an agreement was made between the landlord and tenant. Some of them do end up in an outright dismissal where the judge sides with the tenant. There are filings that haven’t gone through the court yet, so the data is not complete. Mr. Hutchison stated that one of the benefits to the stipulated agreement is that it’s easier to evict if the tenant violates the agreement. Some filings are thrown out because they weren’t noticed properly. Some of them evictions are for non-payment and sometimes they’re thrown out for hearsay. Mr. Lord asked if the goal with eviction prevention is to have mediation occur before a filing. Ms. Erickson replied that one of their goals is to figure out how to prevent evictions from being filed in the first place. That might mean connecting them with a rental assistance resource or working through conflict resolution. The goal is to see the number of filings and judgements decrease to benefit both landlords and tenants. Ms. Jevaltas asked if the eviction prevention group has a brochure to distribute. Ms. Erickson replied that they did some advertising to direct people to the resources that are immediately available. The task force is working on creating a brochure right now, but the board could certainly help with distribution when it is completed. X. Affordable Housing Study Update Mr. Lyons stated that he wanted to provide a quick update on the work that is taking place to evaluate current housing needs and begin establishing policies and programs which will impact rental and owner-occupied housing. The committee has been meeting for about five months and a number of surveys have been sent out as part of the data collection phase. They’ve received 800 responses for a broad housing survey that was sent out earlier this summer. They recently sent out two targeted surveys. The first was a landlord rental survey and they’ve received about 250 responses so far. They are happy with the number of responses, but the survey period is still open. They are also doing a workforce survey that was sent to employers to better understand why employees are not living in Oshkosh or what Oshkosh is lacking that is motivating people to rent or purchase elsewhere. The study will be completed in the next couple of months and a draft plan will be presented to the advisory board at their meeting in September. It will then be opened for a public comment period and formal adoption of a plan is anticipated around October. Mr. Hutchison asked how many landlords are in Oshkosh. Mr. Lyons replied that the survey was sent to anyone who had ever registered as a landlord in their permitting software. He doesn’t recall the exact number. Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 8 Mr. Lord stated that he thought there were around 1,200. Mr. Lyons replied that he can double check, but he thinks it might be around 800 or 900. Mr. Lord asked if that was the Polco survey. Mr. Lyons replied that the Polco survey was the broad housing study. The landlord survey was sent as an e-mail from RDG Planning and Design on July 19th. Mr. Hutchison asked if it would be possible for Mr. Lord to distribute the survey to the Apartment Association. Mr. Lyons replied that he would send it to Mr. Lord today and he could distribute it further. He will return to RHAB for feedback on the plan when it is ready. Ms. Jevaltas stated that her daughter moved to Florida in June because she could not find a three bedroom rental in the state. That’s a tiny speck of what is happening to a lot of families. She asked if they were tracking people who are leaving Oshkosh because of housing. Mr. Lyons replied that the current workforce survey has questions directed at why people are choosing to work in Oshkosh, but live or rent elsewhere. It would be difficult to get the data for people leaving altogether. Mr. Lord stated that their supply is slightly decreasing and demand is increasing and that is the source of the problem Ms. Jevaltas is alluding to. Ms. Jevaltas replied that she thinks a lot of apartments were converted into condos. Ms. Nieforth asked Mr. Zarate if he would have any information on conversions that occurred. Mr. Zarate replied that there is nothing they would have to do differently to convert. He knows for sure there was one complex in the Westhaven area that went from apartments to condos. He believes some rental duplexes were converted, but they wouldn’t have a record of that. XI. Public Information Campaign – Tenant and Landlord Rights After a lengthy discussion regarding the purpose, content, and logistics of the public information campaign, Ms. Jevaltas agreed that she would contact Mr. Ernst to put something together to either bring to the next meeting or distribute through city staff for comments from the board before the next meeting. XII. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 5:08 PM. (Lord/Erickson) 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Average (2016-2019) January 15 33 49 61 68 47 40 February 53 40 36 51 70 33 45 March 42 35 34 56 40 33 42 April 29 26 40 56 4 35 38 May 54 42 59 58 35 61 53 June 50 41 75 56 84 58 56 July 55 41 49 69 65 45 54 August 49 56 40 86 78 30 57 September 55 30 62 62 47 62 53 October 62 40 45 64 42 51 November 42 30 63 82 53 54 December 29 48 49 66 51 49 Total 535 462 601 767 637 404 Renter-occupied housing units2469724657 24570 24641.33 Eviction Rate 2.17%1.87%2.45%3.11% 40 45 42 38 53 56 54 57 53 51 54 49 2016 -2019 The average number of evictions filed monthly in Winnebago County are highest in the summer. 535 462 601 767 637 404 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Number of evictions filed each year in Winnebago County 68 70 40 4 35 84 65 78 47 42 53 51 The number of evictions filed in Winnebago County in 2020 fluctuated with various eviction moratoriums. Average (2016-2019)2020 ** renter must meet certain criteria and sign a declaration form WI Eviction Moratorium CARES Act Eviction Moratorium* CDC Eviction Moratorium** * for rental properties with federal assistance or federally related financing Filings Judgements Percentage Filings Judgements Percentage Filings Judgements Percentage January 61 17 28%68 11 16%47 23 49% February 51 21 41%70 11 16%33 22 67% March 56 7 13%40 8 20%33 15 45% April 56 6 11%4 2 50%35 21 60% May 58 13 22%29 0 0%61 28 46% June 56 10 18%85 13 15%58 27 47% July 69 8 12%65 22 34%45 14 31% August 86 12 14%78 10 13%30 1 3% September 62 17 27%47 15 32%62 1 2% October 64 12 19%42 9 21%#DIV/0! November 82 13 16%53 7 13%#DIV/0! December 66 7 11%51 3 6%#DIV/0! Total 767 143 19%632 111 18%187 34 18% 2019 2020 2021 By working together renters in Oshkosh can Q R C O D E T O E N G L I S H L A N G U A G E V E R S I O N O F W E B P A G E THRIVE Tenant Rights Healthy Homes Responsibly Communicate Improve Housing Voice Issues Empower Others Brought to you by City of Oshkosh Rental Housing Advisory Board Scan the QR codes with your phone to THRIVE in our city visit onboard.ci.oshkosh.wi.us LOGO All renters in Oshkosh can THRIVE Tenant Rights Healthy Homes Responsibly Communication Improve housing stock Voice issues Empower others Brought to you by the City of Oshkosh and the Rental Housing Advisory Board front page Tenant Rights – Wisconsin Statute Ch 704 and WI Admin Code: ATCP 134 detail the rights and duties of landlords and tenants. Rights and duties are enforced through local ordinances. In exchange for rent payments, tenants are entitled to: ✔ Rights during eviction proceedings ✔ Protection from landlord entry without 12 hour notice, except in case of emergencies ✔ Full return of security deposit, less any non-paid rent or a list of required repairs ✔ Freedom from landlord retaliation when exercising rights ✔ Peaceful enjoyment of your dwellings Habitable Dwellings – The vast majority of rentals in Oshkosh are owned by “mom and pop” landlords, or those who own only 2-3 properties. No matter how many properties a provider manages, all dwellings must meet health and safety standards set by national, state, and local laws. There are a number of programs and services in place to help you keep your dwelling safe: The Inspection Services Division enforces housing codes. If your dwelling is in disrepair, despite requests to the housing provider, Inspection Services can perform an inspection at your request. Inspections are not a tool to punish landlords, but a way to maintain tenant rights and the viability to the housing stock. The Rental Inspection Program, run by Inspections Services Division, examines rental properties for housing code compliance. Landlords cannot accept or decline inspections on behalf of the tenant. Tenants cannot be charged or fined by the landlord for compliance with the program. Responsible Communication - Landlords must responsibly communicate intent to enter the dwelling, for any reason, by providing 12 hours notice to the tenant. Landlords must also communicate changes in the rental agreement so that the tenant can accept, before the changes are implemented. Tenants should complete a move-in report and return to the property manager within 7 days of moving in. Record any and all damages, along with pictures to document. Tenants may also request a list of previous damages from the landlord. Write to landlords. All communication with your landlord, including repair requests, security deposit disputes, and move-in/move-out forms should be done in writing. When things are wrong with the dwelling, tenants should take photos for proof. When communicating with landlords, tenants should assert the relevant right, and ask for what you want. Landlords should provide a timely reply. Tenants should make sure to follow up. Leave a forwarding address with your landlord upon lease termination to help get your security deposit returned. Improving Housing Stock – The number of renters in Oshkosh grows, and with it the need for habitable and affordable dwellings. Throughout the city, improvements need to be made in terms of affordability and quality. The city’s Planning Services Division offers no-interest loans and grants to home owners. Four different revitalization programs, designed to help first-time home owners, as well as homeowners needing some help with improvements and beautification. Programs also provide grants and low-interest loans to landlords for improvements and repairs. Voice Issues – Effective communication is only useful when tenants are willing to speak for themselves. Knowledge of laws and rights pertaining to rental housing is best used when it is exercised. Renters in Oshkosh have the opportunity to express their concerns: • Rental Housing Advisory Board Meetings • Responsible communication with Landlords • The city’s Inspection Services division • The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection takes complaints for unauthorized entry, non-returned security deposits, and landlord retaliation RHAB meetings are a great way to communicate your concerns to city staff. RHAB meets the second Wednesday of every even-number month, at 3:30PM. You can communicate with the board via email, or in person at a meeting. Go to onboard.ci.oshkosh.wi.us to learn more about RHAB and how to contact them. Empower Others – As a renter, you are not just a customer. You are a human with the right to live peacefully. Educating and protecting yourself means you can help your neighbors, friends, family, and co-workers avoid problems too! Tenant unions are springing up nationwide, in response to unprecedented upheaval in housing. Landlords are organized, and have a powerful presence in the state legislature. Organizing tenants at the neighborhood level, or even for individual multi-unit dwellings, can have profound positive effects on tenant living. Report abuses to relevant local and state authorities, especially violations of fair housing laws and local housing codes. Landlords cannot retaliate against you for following the law, or exercising your available rights. Learn more about tenant rights at www.fairhousingwisconsin.com and if you feel you have experienced discrimination in a housing situation, please call Fair Housing Council's toll-free complaint intake line: 1-877-647-3247. RESOURCES Same as back of pink Rental Inspections brochure, with additional resources for COVID, including WERA, landlord/tenant guide from the state, WAA, etc <back page>