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4 <br /> <br />Existing Resources for Tenants <br />City and ECHO Housing staff provide valuable resources for tenants who are seeking a rent review, <br />tenant-landlord counseling, or both. ECHO Housing, a HUD-approved housing counseling agency, <br />is able to provide tenants with counseling on tenant-landlord issues that include retaliatory evictions, <br />intimidation, harassment for payment, forceful payment for repairs, illegal entry, habitability issues, <br />foreclosures, etc. Additionally, as a HUD-designated Qualified Fair Housing Enforcement <br />Organization, ECHO Housing staff is also able to provide fair housing counseling and investigation <br />services to renters who allege discrimination. ECHO Housing also provides mediation and <br />counseling on these matters. As appropriate, ECHO Housing makes appropriate referrals to City, <br />State, and/or Federal entities, legal services, or Small Claims Court in the event the landlord remains <br />non-compliant. <br /> <br />Issues Related to the December 7th Council Ordinance <br /> <br /> Changes to the Rent Review Board Hearing Eligibility Thresholds - The maintenance <br />of the existing $75 dollar threshold may slightly increase hearing caseload. More important, <br />however, application of the low dollar threshold may be problematic for future market rate <br />housing developments which are estimated to rent for $2,500 - $3,000 per unit as opposed to <br />the current average rental rate of approximately $1,500. As noted below in the “Future <br />Housing Development” section, there are several proposed residential developments which <br />will supply needed new market rate housing for the City’s new and expanding businesses. <br /> <br />The decrease in the 10% rate increase threshold will likely increase the hearing caseload as <br />more rent increases will qualify for a hearing. The impact of this change on the City’s limited <br />resources should be considered. <br /> <br /> The Addition of 5,800 Residential Units to the Rent Review Ordinance The Rent <br />Review Ordinance originally applied to 7,833 multi-unit housing units (buildings with 3 or <br />more rental units). The addition of 877 duplexes, 966 triplexes/fourplexes and 3,954 single- <br />family rental units would increase the number of units eligible for rent review by 74% to <br />13,630. During the years such as FY 2015-16 when there is significant Rent Review Board <br />activity, the current Housing division staffing of 1.2 FTE positions and the $25,000 <br />consulting contract to ECHO Housing for rent review and tenant counseling services would <br />be inadequate to handle the increased inquiries, applications and caseload. In order to meet <br />the increased need, staff recommends the ECHO Housing contract for administration of the <br />Rent Review Program be increased at an estimated cost of $20,000 per year during years <br />with a high level of case activity. <br /> <br /> Extension of the Tenant Application Deadline – The extension of the application <br />deadline for a Board hearing for the tenant from 15 to 30 days would impair the ability of <br />any tenant who receives a 30-day rent increase notice to have his/her case heard by the <br />Board prior to the effective date of the rent increase. To date, staff has not received an <br />extension request or complaint on missing the application deadline based on language or <br />translation constraints. <br />