Item B: Rental Housing Code Update

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ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Work Session: Rental Housing Code Meeting Date: April 23, 2008 Agenda Item Number: B Department: Planning and Development Staff Contact: Rachelle Nicholas www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5495 ISSUE STATEMENT This work session provides an opportunity for council to review draft language of the Rental Housing Code ordinance adding mold, security, and smoke detectors, and removing the sunset provision. BACKGROUND The Eugene Rental Housing Code was adopted by the City Council in 2004. Prior to that Eugene had no housing code since 1983. The code was modeled after a housing code in place in Corvallis. The purpose of the Rental Housing Code is to provide minimum habitability criteria to safeguard health, property and public wellbeing of the owners, occupants and users of the rental housing. The ordinance is currently scheduled to sunset December 31, 2008. Program Overview The Rental Housing Code currently addresses four areas of habitability; structural integrity, plumbing, heating and weatherproofing. At the October 8, 2007, work session, the council provided direction to add mold, security, and smoke detectors to the ordinance and remove the sunset provision. (See Attachment A for proposed ordinance language.) The Rental Housing Code prescribes a process that ensures a renter notifies the owner of his or her concerns before filing a complaint with the City. When an issue is not resolved by the owner after receiving notice from a tenant, a complaint may be made to the City. Dangerous buildings (e.g., faulty electrical systems) are dealt with through existing Eugene administrative rules and authority. Since the adoption of the Code, there have been 106 legitimate complaints filed with the City. Of those 106 complaints, civil penalties were assessed to encourage compliance on five, due to lack of owner response. During the first two years of the program staff logged 4,541 telephone calls. Of those, 815 callers were identified as tenants. Additionally, staff determined that of those 815 tenant calls, 410 were related to issues not currently addressed in the Rental Housing Code, with the three most common complaints being mold, security and lack of smoke detectors. Funding The program is funded with a $10.00 fee assessed annually for each dwelling unit. The number of units has varied from 27,365 in 2006 to 27,883 this year. Year-end fund balances vary from a surplus of $14,400 in the first year with one-time startup costs to a $76,000 surplus the second year. At $10 per unit, and no changes to the program, staff anticipates over-collecting $70,000 this year. L:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080423\S080423B.doc