Fort Collins City Council votes to require most rental housing to be registered
Fort Collins City Council voted Tuesday to approve a new rental registration program that will gather data about rental properties in the city and aims to improve the complaint-based inspection system.
Council members voted 6-1 Tuesday to approve a program that will require property owners to register their rental properties with the city. Council also allocated funding to improve the city's complaint-based rental inspection system and increase education and outreach to renters and landlords about the complaints system and other city resources.
Council member Shirley Peel voted against the program.
The program approved this week is a stripped-down version of the initial program considered by council, which would have created a rental registration and proactive inspection program.
The prior version of the program was approved in its first reading at City Council on April 4 with a 4-3 vote, the closest a major council decision had been in months. It was up for final approval April 18, but council voted to indefinitely postpone the vote after community members raised concerns about unintended consequences of the program, particularly the proactive inspection program.
The revised version of the program that was given initial approval Tuesday doesn't include the proactive inspection program. It still needs to be approved by council on a final vote before being implemented, and that final vote had not been scheduled as of Thursday afternoon.
Council also voted to exempt owner-occupied rentals and mobile home parks from the rental registration requirement after hearing feedback from local nonprofits that registration would negatively impact those groups.
Staff estimates about 40% of all housing in Fort Collins is rental properties, and while renters make up a large part of the community's population, they "have little control over the condition or maintenance" of their housing, city Housing Manager Meaghan Overton said.
The goal of this program is to "promote safe and healthy housing for renters," Overton said.
The program would cost $1.1 million over two years to start up, which includes hiring staff, buying vehicles and making software improvements to the complaints system. Council approved that funding 6-1, with Peel voting no.
If the program is approved in a final vote by council, it is expected to be fully implemented by fall 2024.
Here's what it will do:
Create a rental registration program
Property owners will have to register their properties with the city and could be asked to provide information like:
Landlord or property manager contact information
A local contact, if the property owner lives outside the area
Types of housing and units and the age of those units
Property owners could also choose to provide more information about their rental properties to help city staff better understand the local rental market. Optional information that could be requested includes:
Monthly rent charged per unit
What utilities or other services are included in the rent
The average length of stay for tenants/unit turnover
Peel said she felt some of the information staff is considering asking property owners is unnecessary.
"Even though some information is voluntary, you’re asking for too much,” Peel said. "... There are just some things in here that I think are just overreaching.”
Registration will cost property owners $37 per property and $10 per unit. Staff said a fee reduction or exemption program for low-income landlords could be considered and approved by council later in the startup process.
Why advocates recommended exempting owner-occupied rentals and mobile home parks
A representative from Fuerza Latina, a nonprofit supporting the immigrant population in Fort Collins, told council during Tuesday's meeting they and other local nonprofits recommend exempting owner-occupied renters and mobile home parks from the registration program to "ensure safe housing without unintentionally displacing some of our more vulnerable people."
The representative said owner-occupied rentals are essential housing when affordable housing is scarce and requiring registration of those rentals "will make many of those housing providers decide to stop providing housing." She suggested registration be voluntary for owner-occupied rentals, with incentives like being able to receive loans or grants to make improvements to their property if they do register with the city.
The Fuerza Latina representative added that the mobile home park situation is "so different and complicated" and a different kind of program could possibly be implemented in those communities, but she could not explain further during her time-limited public comment.
Mayor Jeni Arndt agreed that a registration requirement for owner-occupied rentals and mobile home parks could discourage someone from offering room in their home.
Council member Kelly Ohlson asked for staff to come back before council holds its final vote to provide more information about how registration would negatively impact these groups, specifically mobile home parks.
"I don't want people (living in mobile home parks) to not have some protections, too," Ohlson said.
A push to improve the complaint-based inspections
Feedback from the community informed staff that the current complaint-based system to get a rental property inspected for minimum health and safety standards needed to be improved upon "to ensure consistency, efficiency and overall awareness of rental housing minimum standards," Overton said.
City Neighborhood Services Manager Marcy Yoder said that since this program has been presented to council, staff have already seen an increase in complaints. Funds from this program will go toward making software improvements to make the current complaint-based system more accessible and effective, staff said.
There are more opportunities for improving and expanding the complaint-based process, staff said, including:
Further improving the complaint forms and process
Creating rental inspection guidelines and materials
Creating a "move-out inspection" program, allowing tenants to report potential violations in the weeks after they move out
Peel expressed concerns about the potential move-out inspection program and felt it could be "weaponized" by tenants making claims after they've moved out of a property.
Council member Susan Gutowsky supported the idea for a post-move-out reporting system, saying that some renters "don't want to file complaints for fear of retribution," agreeing with Ohlson, who said "the balance of power is just not fair" in many cases between tenants and landlords.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins rental housing registration program gets City Council OK
