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<br /> <br />ECC <br />UGENE ITY OUNCIL <br />AIS <br />GENDA TEM UMMARY <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Work Session: Rental Housing Code <br /> <br /> <br />Meeting Date: February 20, 2008 Agenda Item Number: C <br />Department: Planning and Development Staff Contact: Rachelle Nicholas <br />www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5495 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />ISSUE STATEMENT <br /> <br />This work session provides an opportunity for the council to review draft language of the Rental <br />Housing Code ordinance adding mold, security, and smoke detectors, and removing the sunset <br />provision. <br /> <br /> <br />BACKGROUND <br /> <br />The Eugene Rental Housing Code was adopted by the City Council in 2004. Prior to that Eugene had no <br />housing code since 1983. The code was modeled after a housing code in place in Corvallis. The purpose <br />of the Rental Housing Code is to provide minimum habitability criteria to safeguard health, property and <br />public well-being of the owners, occupants and users of the rental housing. The ordinance is currently <br />scheduled to sunset December 31, 2008. <br /> <br />Program Overview <br />The Rental Housing Code currently addresses four areas of habitability; structural integrity, plumbing, <br />heating and weatherproofing. At the October 8, 2007 work session, the council provided direction to add <br />mold, security, and smoke detectors to the ordinance and remove the sunset provision. (See Attachment <br />A for proposed ordinance language.) <br /> <br />The Rental Housing Code prescribes a process that ensures a renter notifies the owner of their concerns <br />before they may file a complaint with the City. When an issue is not resolved by the owner after they <br />receive notice from a tenant, a complaint may be made to the City. Dangerous buildings (e.g., faulty <br />electrical systems) are dealt with through existing Eugene administrative rules and authority. Since the <br />adoption of the Code there have been 106 legitimate complaints filed with the City. Civil penalties were <br />assessed due to lack of owner response on five of these 106 complaints. During the first two years of the <br />program, staff logged 4,541 telephone calls; 815 callers were identified as tenants. Additionally, staff <br />determined that of those 815 tenant calls, 410 were related to issues not currently addressed in the Rental <br />Housing Code with the three most common complaints being; mold, security and lack of smoke <br />detectors. <br /> <br />Funding <br />The Program is funded with a $10 fee assessed annually for each dwelling unit. The number of units has <br />varied from 27,365 in 2006, to 27,883 this year. Year-end fund balances vary from a surplus of $14,400 <br /> L:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080220\S080220C.doc <br /> <br />