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    McKee hosts rental safety roundtable with housing advocates, realtors

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    By on Local News, Manhattan
    Commissioner McKee

    Manhattan City Commissioner Jerred McKee hosted a roundtable discussion on safe housing in the CivicPlus building Friday, Jan. 11.

    McKee invited a mix of safe housing and renters’ rights advocates as well as realtors, property owners and managers to discuss the topic in order to bring the issue forward at the next Manhattan City Commission briefing session. The group talked openly about their individual thoughts on the state of housing in the city in addition to related topics such as quality and affordable housing.

    McKee says he planned the meeting with the goal of building bridges, and that the talk turned out productive.

    Brandon Irwin of Safe and Affordable Housing Action took part in the discussion and says the talk was significant as they haven’t typically had as diverse a group of stakeholders get together to discuss the topic.

    “Commissioner McKee has done something very special today in bringing all of those stakeholders together to have what is a very important conversation that will hopefully lead to some concrete actions at the city level,” says Irwin. “I feel pretty positive about that given our conversation.”

    They also discussed a couple of proposals intended to ensure that rental units are safe for tenants. One would  require landlords to include a page in renters’ leases explaining their rights and responsibilities, including their right to call for an inspection by code services. The rights sheet would require the leasee’s signature and the management company would be required to keep it on file.

    The other, based on a Lawrence program, would mandate inspections of some percentage of rental units every few years to ensure the landlord or manager is keeping up with minimum maintenance standards. Lawrence’s program mandated that 10 percent of a landlord’s units, but not more than 15, be inspected for code violations by the city every three years.

    Scott Seel, a realtor with Alliance Realty, was there and said some sort of inspection ordinance was reasonable.
    “The question is just how do we get there in a way that protects tenant safety, but also doesn’t put an undo burden on business owners that are just trying to make a living in a responsible and professional manner,” says Seel.

    Another idea floated during the talks was the possibility of some sort of a voluntary inspection system for property managers. Some referred to it a “city seal of approval,” where property owners would agree to have their properties checked for safety. Those that passed could then be put on a list curated by either the city or renters’ groups that would let prospective renters know their units meet safety standards.

    McKee wasn’t sure about the efficacy of the idea.
    “I think the market will tighten up eventually — either because there will be less rental units on the market, because it’s so competitive right now or population will increase,” McKee says. “And the ‘city seal of approval’ doesn’t really do anything to address the bad actors’.”
    Irwin says a third thing needs to happen in addition to those proposals to ensure safe housing.
    “Just sharing information doesn’t get it done,” says Irwin. “What you really have to do is engage renters, face to face, in meaningful conversations about what their rights are and also empower them very intentionally to exercise their rights.”
    McKee also noted that the city is in a tough financial situation and that they may not have the money to afford the necessary staff for a beefed up rental inspection program. Sitting at the property tax lid on a trend of plateauing revenue, he says they may be in the position where they’re cutting city jobs rather than adding them.
    “These rental inspections may be a proposal that morally and inherently everybody agrees with, but if we don’t have a way to pay for it that’s absolutely going to be an issue,” says McKee.
    McKee says he will continue to discuss the proposals with city staff before bringing them to a briefing session. If three commissioners agree that the proposals are worth exploring, city administration will begin to study the proposals’ possibilities and bring the topics to the commission at a future meeting.
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