Councilors Consider Revising Rental Permit Regulations
Photo: Public Domain Pictures. Public domain
Report On The Working Session Of The Amherst Town Council, March 21, 2022
Present
All Councilors were present for this working session that took place prior to the regular Town Council meeting on March 21. In the Town Room: Lynn Griesemer (President, District 2), Mandy Jo Hanneke (at-large), Cathy Schoen and Michele Miller (District 1), Pat DeAngelis (District 2), Jennifer Taub (District 3), Pam Rooney (District 4), and Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5). None were wearing masks. Participating Remotely: Dorothy Pam, (District 3), Anika Lopes (District 4), Shalini Bahl-Milne (District 5), Andy Steinberg (at large) and Ellisha Walker (at large).
Staff: Paul Bockelman (Town Manager, wearing a mask) and Athena O’Keeffe (Clerk of the Council)
This meeting preceded the regular council meeting. It was held over Zoom and was recorded. It can be viewed here.
Prior to the regularly scheduled Town Council meeting, the council held an hour long working session to discuss the revision of the town’s residential rental permit bylaw proposed by councilors Mandi Jo Hanneke (at-large), Michele Miller (District 1), Jennifer Taub (District 3), and Pam Rooney (District 4). The sponsors noted that the original bylaw was added to the general bylaws in 2014 and has not been updated since.
unless there are complaints about a property, enforcement of health and safety violations is rare.
They pointed out several shortcomings of the current bylaw, including the lack of differentiation between owner occupied and non-owner occupied properties and lack of differentiation according to the number of units on the property. However, the main problem is the lack of town staff to perform the required annual inspections and ensure that landlords apply for permits. The current bylaw allows self-inspections by the property owner in some instances. Data indicate that, although there are more rentals in town, there were over 100 fewer permits granted in 2020 than in 2015, implying that some landlords are not complying with the permit process. Also, unless there are complaints about a property, enforcement of health and safety violations is rare. The purpose of the residential rental permits is to protect the health and safety of the tenants and neighboring residents.
Ana Devlin Gauthier (District 5) and Pat DeAngelis (District 2) objected to the use of the terms “well-behaved” and “poorly behaved” tenants in the draft document. DeAngelis felt it was coded language which could be used in a racist manner. Both she and Devlin Gauthier also were troubled by how students were called out in the document. Andy Steinberg (at large) felt that properties needing increased regulation could be determined by police logs of noise and nuisance complaints. Taub noted that some property owners don’t take responsibility for their tenants’ behavior, and that student rentals (where a group of students occupy a property for 12 months or less) are “a different animal” than other rentals. Lack of upkeep and safety measures at these houses are not captured by noise and nuisance complaints. She mentioned that 90% of noise complaints are from non-owner occupied student houses.
Ellisha Walker (at large) also objected to singling out student renters, noting that she had difficulty renting an apartment when she was a student, even though she was a nontraditional student with children. She also worried about traditions from some cultures being regarded as disruptive, especially since with the closing of North Village, many international students who formerly resided in the graduate student family housing complex are most likely living in other neighborhoods.
Cathy Schoen (District 1) wondered if the town can differentiate between problem houses and others, perhaps by determining which houses have four or more complaints per year. Shalini Bahl-Milne (District 5) said that police call data is available on the APD website, but she doesn’t think it should be used as criteria for evaluating rental properties, since it would more likely target those of low income who are more likely to call the police for mental health and family issues.
The memo also mentions incentivizing improvements for sustainability, but does not indicate what incentives would be offered. Devlin Gauthier would like cost savings for energy efficiency to be passed on to tenants.
Hanneke noted that this is the beginning of a discussion on the residential rental permit system. Many points still need to be determined, such as the frequency of inspections, whether different fees will be charged for larger complexes than for small ones, or for owner occupied buildings (at present, the same fee is charted for a 24-unit apartment house as for a single-unit house), or if enforcement will be based on inspections or complaints. The council referred the matter to the Community Resources Committee (CRC) for further discussion. It will either be brought back to the full council for further work or other committees will work on various aspects of it. The CRC will report back to the council by December 31, 2022.
The proposal to change permit fees was also discussed at the meeting of the Town Services and Outreach Committee (TSO) on Thursday, March 24.
I’d like to clarify that the overwhelming majority of noise and nuisance complaints are specifically to non-owner-occupied student rentals, not to rental properties overall.
The more pressing — and existential — issue is the decline of our long-term, year-round population as more and more houses are converted to student rentals, pricing out families and other non-student households, who are essential to the continued viability of our neighborhoods and town.
I strongly support regular inspections of rental apartments and houses, perhaps on a bi-annual basis. Rents in Amherst are high while too many apartments are in poor condition. With a very low vacancy rate, a majority of student renters, most renters are loathe to complain about substandard and dangerous conditions. Also, houses and apartments in poor condition are not attractive to families, who will look to other towns for rentals. Neighborhoods dominated by student rentals also are not attractive to families. Let’s keep our neighborhoods strong and our housing safe and up to code for all renters.