HomeMy WebLinkAbout06.08.2022 Rental Housing Advisory Board Full AgendaRental Housing Advisory Board
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
City Hall Room 406
3:30 PM
To Whom It May Concern:
Please note the City of Oshkosh Rental Housing Advisory Board will meet on Wednesday, June
8, 2022 at 3:30pm in City Hall Room 406 to consider the following agenda:
I. Call to Order
II. Welcome New Members – Saida Egal & Ally Stribbling
III. Roll Call
i. Board Seats
ii. Vacancies
IV. Citizen Statements
V. Approval of Meeting Minutes – April 13, 2022
VI. Partner Organizations Update
i. UW-Oshkosh Off Campus Housing Issues and Resources – Tentative
ii. ADVOCAP Rental Assistance
iii. Winnebago County Eviction Prevention Task Force – Eviction Data
VII. Inspections Staff Update
i. Social Media
ii. Complaint Based Rental Inspections 2017-2021
iii. Rental Registry Inspection Program
VIII. Approve Public Information Campaign – Tenant and Landlord Rights
IX. Housing Study Recommendations -
https://rdgusa.com/sites/oshkosh/2022/02/23/view-the-final-document/
i. Rent to Own
ii. Rent a Room
X. Other Business
XI. Adjournment
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 1
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes
April 13, 2022
Present: Lynnsey Erickson, Linda Jevaltas, TJ Hobbs, Donn Lord
Excused: Lydia Christensen, Todd Hutchison, Timothy Ernst, Alec Gulan
Staff: Casey Koelbl; Housing Inspector, Kelly Nieforth; Community Development Director
I. Call to Order
Nieforth called the meeting to order at 3:31 pm.
II. Roll Call
Roll call was taken and a quorum declared present.
Motion by Erickson to elect Jevaltas as temporary chair.
Seconded by Hobbs.
Motion passed 4-0.
III. Citizen Statements
There were no citizen statements.
IV. Approval Special Meeting Minutes – March 9, 2022
The minutes of the March 9, 2022 special meeting were approved as written. (Erickson/Hobbs)
V. Partner Organizations Update
Lu Scheer was unable to attend the meeting, but provided a summary and data for RHAB to review.
Lord asked what the sunset date of the program is.
Jevaltas replied that the program was intended to last for five years. She wanted to note that 60 people
reached out for the new Wisconsin Help for Homeowners program.
Erickson provided updated eviction data through April 1, 2022.
Lord asked if there are fewer filings overall, but more of the judgements are actually resulting in an
eviction.
Erickson replied affirmatively. The average for 2020 was 17% and 2021 was 51%. Even though there
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 2
were fewer filings in 2021, more of those resulted in an actual eviction judgement.
Lord replied that he thinks that’s a good sign that some mediation is occurring before the filing.
Erickson replied that there are more stipulated dismissals in CCAP, so there does seem to be some
improvement there.
Lord replied that a lot of the stipulated dismissals include a payment plan, which is better from his
perspective as a landlord because judgments aren’t that collectable in the first place.
Jevaltas asked if there was a way to estimate for the city instead of the county.
Erickson replied that it would take a bit of time and digging
Lord asked what was happening with the Eviction Prevention Task Force.
Erickson replied that they are in the implementation phase and no longer meeting actively. The
Conflict Resolution Center and Legal Action are figuring out how to work better together in the court
system.
Hobbs asked if tenants are informed of remediation options when an eviction is first filed because it
does seem to be so helpful. They asked if there was a rule or a law for when an eviction can be filed
and how the tenant needs to be notified.
Lord replied that there aren’t many tools in the law. There’s a five-day pay or vacate and then they can
go right to eviction. He agrees that there needs to be some tools in between there.
Erickson replied that the task force was working on providing messaging and resources to landlords
for tenants at risk of eviction.
Hobbs replied that they think it’s reasonable for landlords to lead those mediation efforts given the
knowledge they have and because being a landlord is a choice whereas being a renter is often not a
choice. There should be a way to ensure landlords have the mediation resources that they need so they
can provide them to their tenants.
Jevaltas replied that programs are designed in such a way that people need to be really behind or
about to be evicted in order to qualify for assistance. It’s unfortunate that the programs are not
designed to help people before it gets to that point.
Lord replied that it costs a lot more money to re-house someone who has lost their housing than it
does to keep them in housing.
VI. Inspections Staff Update
Koelbl stated that he posts agendas and other relevant things he finds, but staff rely on RHAB to
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 3
provide the content. They should e-mail staff if there’s anything they would like posted.
Jevaltas replied that the Facebook page is overwhelming because there’s a lot of pictures and you don’t
know what it is until you click on it because there’s a lot of writing. She doesn’t know if she was
looking at the right page. She asked if staff can show what it looks like in the future.
Nieforth replied that it might be the formatting with Facebook. They can look to see if there’s a way to
clean it up, but they might not be able to change the formatting.
Hobbs suggested that Koelbl post how citizens can make statements and ask question at meetings and
they might have some more public participation.
Koelbl summarized the complaint-based inspections data from 2017-2021.
Erickson asked what the most common violations are.
Koelbl replied smoke detectors, CO detectors, handrails, guardrails, windows, and electrical and
plumbing issues.
Jevaltas asked if those are remedied pretty quickly.
Koelbl replied that it depends on the property.
Hobbs asked if there was enforcement in place for that.
Nieforth replied that violation notices and reminders are sent. Depending on what the violation is,
there are different timeframes for bringing the violations are up to code.
Lord asked if they see certain cases with particular landlords or landlords with multiple cases.
Koelbl replied that there are few that they see more often than others.
Lord asked how many landlords would be included in 75 cases for example.
Koelbl replied that it’s hard to say, but they could check on that for the next meeting.
Lord asked if there are around 12,000 rental units in Oshkosh.
Nieforth replied affirmatively.
Lord asked if she could estimate how many landlords there are.
Nieforth replied that it would be difficult to estimate as it’s a moving target. Staff update the rental
registry regularly.
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 4
Lord replied that the biggest complaint he receives is that five day notices don’t provide enough time
especially when the notices are mailed. Sending the notices via e-mail would be more beneficial.
Nieforth replied that they try to collect as many e-mail addresses as they can, but they don’t always
have them. Staff are willing to work with people who are unable to pay, but making a good faith effort
to correct the violation.
Lord asked if that is included in the notice.
Koelbl replied affirmatively.
Jevaltas replied that she thinks it’s a good point to go electronically if possible because the mail is
much slower these days.
Hobbs replied that a phone call would work too.
Nieforth replied that often they just have the address.
Jevaltas replied that staff could ask for an e-mail address and phone number with the rental registry.
Nieforth replied that they collect as many as they can that way.
Lord replied that duplication in this would be a good thing and suggested sending a letter, e-mail, and
placing a phone call for each notice if possible.
Erickson asked if a map could be created to show where the majority of violations occur.
Nieforth replied affirmatively.
Erickson asked if it was something that could be put together easily for the next meeting.
Nieforth replied that she would check.
Hobbs stated that they’re aware of some folks in town with issues who are afraid to make a complaint
because they don’t want to be on their landlord’s bad side in this market. They asked if there are
channels to protect tenants from landlords when they come forward to make a complaint.
Lord replied that the law prohibits retaliation.
Hobbs asked if there are people to help enforce that law because the average renter might not know
that.
Lord replied that either party can end a month-to-month lease without reason with a 28 day notice.
Hobbs replied that it could be connected to the complaint then. They are wondering if there is a way
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 5
they could help solve that problem.
Koelbl stated that someone needs to let the inspector into the home. The tenant can let the inspector in,
it doesn’t need to be the landlord.
Hobbs replied that at the end of the day, if the landlord receives a violation, they’re going to know it
was the tenant. They think the work they’re doing with the brochure is important because tenants
aren’t aware that these resources exist.
Koelbl stated that they are going to start the rental registry program again beginning the week of April
25th. They are going to start with a section on the south side of the river.
Lord asked how many letters and replies they send out and receive for each section.
Koelbl replied that they receive five to ten replies for every one hundred letters.
Lord asked how many of those result in inspections.
Koelbl estimated that seven of them result in inspections.
VII. Public Information Campaign – Tenant and Landlord Rights
Jevaltas stated that a little work has to be done to make sure it’s all on two pages. She thinks there
needs to be some information with regard to student housing. She looked at the UW-Oshkosh student
government website and they use a virtual student marketplace to market rental properties and
provide resources about being a good tenant. She thinks it would be good to add that to the brochure.
Hobbs stated that they need to figure out what to cut from this. It’s beautiful, but it’s too long.
Jevaltas replied that adding the link to resources for students would be helpful.
Hobbs stated that they should come up with the edits now so they can have it approved and ready for
printing next time.
Jevaltas replied that it’s a good thing they’re meeting monthly.
Nieforth replied that they haven’t voted to meet monthly.
Jevaltas replied that they were meeting monthly before the pandemic. The board made a decision to
meet bi-monthly because people felt there wasn’t enough to do. She asked if they can decide as a
board how often they’d like to meet.
Nieforth replied that she would need to check on the administrative process for that. They can’t vote
on it today because it’s not on the agenda. It can be added to the agenda next month.
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 6
Jevaltas asked if they need to call a special meeting for next month to determine if they’re going to
meet monthly.
Nieforth replied that they said there were other items they needed to discuss, so there would be more
items on the agenda. There needs to be an action item for the board to vote on.
Erickson replied that they could approve the brochure at the next meeting.
Jevaltas replied that without Ernst here, they should table this for next month. In the meantime, they
can take a look to see if there’s a few sentences they can eliminate or make more concise.
Nieforth replied that those suggestions can be sent through staff to distribute to Ernst.
Jevaltas replied that the first thing would be to confirm if the brochure fits on two pieces of paper. She
respects his judgement, so she doesn’t think he would send that if it didn’t fit on two pieces of paper.
Lord replied that it makes sense with only four people here to table this and have a special meeting for
it next month.
RHAB was directed to send any suggestions or revisions for the brochure through staff who will
distribute them to Ernst. The plan is to vote on the brochure at the next meeting.
Jevaltas asked for board members to come to the next meeting with ideas on how to distribute the
brochure.
Hobbs stated that the word thrive isn’t immediately identifiable with tenant and landlord rights. They
suggested that the brochure be changed to make it clear what it is about. There is plenty of space on
the page to provide a description, it doesn’t have to be a logo. They will e-mail their suggestion to staff.
VIII. Other Business
Hobbs asked if they could vote at some point on people opening up couches, bedrooms, and
apartments without penalty to their friends who are struggling since it would make sense to do that
during a housing crisis.
Nieforth replied that there are some requirements of how many people can be unrelated and living in
a home together depending on how big the home is, but there is a point at which it becomes a health
and safety building code issue.
Jevaltas stated that she is aware of students who get parking tickets all the time. Several people live in
large houses and there isn’t enough parking for them. She asked if the board could get a liaison from
the University like they used to have to discuss issues like this and housing related issues.
Erickson replied that she might have a contact with the Student Association, so she will invite them to
the next meeting to see if they’re able to attend.
Rental Housing Advisory Board Minutes 7
Lord stated that there was a Wisconsin Apartment Association seminar this past weekend in Oshkosh.
An attorney talked about hot topics in housing and one of them was retaliation, which was very
beneficial. It would be great to have something like that. There will be another one in October in Fond
du Lac.
IX. Adjournment
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:31 PM. (Hobbs/Lord)
Winnebago County Eviction Data – May 2022
(updated 5/31/22)
Number of evictions filed monthly in Winnebago County in 2020-2022
535
462
601
767
637
572
257
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Number of evictions filed each year in Winnebago County
49%
67%
45%
60%
46%47%53%57%
70%
54%
43%
53%45%
23%26%
Percentage of eviction filings that resulted in a
judgement of eviction in Winnebago County
in 2021 and 2022
2021 2022
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The City of Oshkosh creates and maintains GIS maps and data for its own use. They may show the approximate relative location ofproperty, boundaries and other feature from a variety of sources. These map(s)/datasets are provided for information purposes only andmay not be sufficient or appropriate for legal, engineering, or surveying purposes. They are provided “AS-IS” without warranties of anykind and the City of Oshkosh assumes no liability for use or misuse.Prepared by: City of Oshkosh, WIPrinting Date: 5/10/2022
1 in = 2,861 ft1 in = 0.54 mi¯
SHARE WITH FRIENDS, FAMILIES,
NEIGHBORS, COWORKERS, AND LANDLORDS
Through respect and hard work, we can make
Oshkosh where home owners, property
managers, and tenants can THRIVE
Brought to you by the City of Oshkosh and the
Rental Housing Advisory Board
Tenant Rights – Respect for rights is the
foundation of rental housing. Property owners
reasonably expect payment for renting their
dwellings, and tenants expect fair treatment and
maintenance of the dwelling from housing providers.
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 by city staff. In exchange for rent
payments, tenants are entitled to:
✔ Due process 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 individual rights ✔ Peaceful enjoyment of dwellings
Healthy Homes – All rental properties, regardless
of ownership, must meet health and safety standards
set by national, state, and local laws. There are a
number of programs and services in place to aid
renters and landlords in keeping dwellings safe.
Oshkosh’s 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 of the
housing stock.
The Rental Inspection Program, run by Inspections
Services Division, examines rental properties for
housing code compliance. Tenants cannot be charged,
fined or evicted by the landlord for complying with
the program. Landlords cannot accept or decline
inspections.
Responsibly Communicate -
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 and return a move-in report
to the landlord within 7 days of moving in. This is the
time to record any and all damages, along with
pictures to document. Tenants may also request a list
of previous damages from the landlord.
Keep a record of written and verbal communication
with the 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 follow up.
Leave a forwarding address with your landlord upon
lease termination to help get your security deposit
returned.
Improve 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 to the availability,
affordability, and quality of the rental housing stock.
The city’s Planning Services Division offers no-
interest loans and grants to home owners. Four
different revitalization programs, designed to help
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.
RESOURCES
Fair Housing Council
(877) 647-3247
Housing Study
tinyurl.com/mpc86yw9
Lawyer Referal
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.
In 2021, Oshkosh conducted a housing study,
wherein the need to rehabilitate existing housing and
provide incentives for new construction, in order to
lower the affordability burden on renters was
analyzed. The listed programs are one way in which
change can begin. To read the entire study, and look
at recommendations for change, visit
tinyurl.com/mpc86yw9
Voice Issues – Effective communication is only
useful when tenants are willing to speak for
themselves. Renters in Oshkosh have the opportunity
to express their concerns:
• Rental Housing Advisory Board (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
• Responsible, assertive communication with
Landlords should yield meaningful results
for tenants
• The city’s Inspection Services Division
enforces housing codes and performs
inspections to ensure rental dwellings are up
to code
• The Department of Agriculture, Trade and
Consumer Protection takes complaints for
unauthorized entry, non-returned security
deposits, and landlord retaliation
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
fairhousingwisconsin.com. If you feel you have
experienced discrimination in a housing situation,
please call Fair Housing Council's toll-free complaint
intake line: (877) 647-3247.
Share this information with your friends, family,
neighbors, tenants and landlords. Through respect
and hard work, we can make Oshkosh where home
owners, property managers, and tenants can
THRIVE
RESOURCES
ADVOCAP
advocap.org (920) 426- 0150
City of Oshkosh Inspection Services
ci.oshkosh.wi.us/InspectionServices
(920) 236-5050
City of Oshkosh Planning Services
ci.oshkosh.wi.us/PlanningServices
Consumer Protection Agency
(800) 422-7128
(800) 362-9082
Legal Action of Wisconsin
(920) 233-6521
Oshkosh/Winnebago Housing Authority
(920) 424-1450 ohawcha.org
Rental Housing Advisory Board
onboard.ci.oshkosh.wi.us
Tenant Resource Center
tenantresourcecenter.org
United Way Essential Community Services
Dial 211
UW Extension Rent Smart Class
fyi.uwex.edu/rentsmart
UWO Student Legal Services
Attny. Erik Forsgren (920) 424-3202
Winnebago Apartment Association
(920) 420-0662 facebook.com/winnapt
Winnebago Conflict Resolution Center
(920) 236-4925 mediationwcrc.org