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Attachment A Rental Housing Code Staff Report – April 18, 2012 STAKEHOLDER INPUT To obtain the opinions of tenants, tenant advocates, property owners, managers and neighborhood groups concerned with housing conditions staff conducted a survey. The City received 603 responses. A brief summary of those responses follows and the full report is included as an appendix to this report.  Survey responders self-identified their relationship to rental housing with a distribution of about 43% owners and property managers to just over 51% renters and others (6% did not identify).  Over 50% of respondents reported that the code supported the City goals of safe community, effective, accountable municipal government, and fair, stable, and adequate financial resources either somewhat or a lot; and 60% of respondents felt the program supports community livability either somewhat or a lot.  A majority of 67% of respondents felt that the annual $10 unit cost was reasonable.  When asked about possible changes to the code, 64% of respondents agreed that the time between the verification of a housing concern and the deadline for its repair should be reduced in some cases. Currently an owner has as long as 20 days (10 day notice plus 10 days for repair) to make fixes and if the problem is the lack of heat in the winter, the a majority of respondents consider that too long a time.  Pests and vermin, functional appliance, and energy efficiency topped the list of other housing conditions that respondents, who answered the questions, felt the code should address. HOUSING POLICY BOARD REVIEW The Housing Policy Board (HPB) under the guidance of Chair, Norton Cabell, agreed review the Rental Housing Code. A committee of HPB members and owner representatives was formed and met five times over six weeks. At the conclusion of their meetings, recommendations were forward back to the Board. Below are the recommendations of the HPB and the full memo from Chair, Norton Cabell to the HPB is attached in Appendix B The full list of Housing Policy Board recommendations are as follows: 1.That the rental housing code program be continued, but modified. None of the recommended modifications would require altering the code language. The first six could be initiated by city staff; the last two would take City Council action. 2.That staff explore methods for reducing the cost of the program and pass those savings on in the form of fee reductions (not letting the current surplus grow). The biggest possible saving could come from offering some form of multi-year billing. Other ideas are discounts for online billing and payment, discounts for large accounts, and making the late charge provide more incentive to pay on time. 11 | Page