Pinole staff propose annual rental‑inventory system, sole‑source software pilot

City Community Development Director Lily Whelan and the city’s housing fellow, Jared, presented a plan on Sept. 16 to modernize Pinole’s Residential Health and Safety Rental Inspection Program by building an annual rental inventory and contracting for an online platform that staff said can identify non‑compliant listings and streamline enrollment and inspections.

Why it matters: The existing program charges inspection fees and schedules inspections every three years, but staff told the council the back‑office system is “difficult to use” for residents and staff and that many rental units are not enrolled. The proposed redesign would collect a smaller annual fee, require yearly enrollment, improve public transparency, and pay for a full‑time housing inspector dedicated to rental unit compliance.

Jared described the goals: increase enrollment through a user‑friendly platform; collect reliable data to inform housing policy; and provide proactive enforcement while protecting tenants. “We want to make participation as convenient, cost‑effective and non‑invasive as possible while delivering impactful data to policy makers, decision makers and the public,” Jared said.

Staff said the city received technical assistance and grant support from the Partnership for the Bay’s Future and has discussed comparable systems with other Bay Area jurisdictions. The vendor named in staff materials—appearing in the packet as “Ptolemy” or “Tolemy,” pending final vendor verification—offers data‑scrubbing tools that can harvest listings from third‑party sites (Airbnb, Zillow, Craigslist) to locate likely unregistered rentals; staff said municipalities that use those analytics reported higher enrollment and better detection of non‑compliant listings.

Costs and operations: Staff said the platform license and analytics support will cost about $39,000 per year after an $8,000 one‑time implementation fee, which the partnership grant will cover. City staff propose modest fee increases and an annual fee structure so the program will operate at “no net cost to the general fund” and fully fund a dedicated housing inspector. Under staff’s timetable, the council would see proposed fee changes and administrative‑regulation updates in November; staff recommended postponing the city’s rental business‑license renewal deadline to the end of the fiscal year to allow a smooth transition.

Program design: Inspections would still occur on a three‑year physical cycle, staff said, but owners would enroll and pay annually; qualifying property owners could be allowed a self‑certification option, backed by periodic physical spot checks and tenant notification of the certification. Staff does not plan to collect tenant demographic data through owner‑entered forms; the presentation said collecting tenant demographics from owners raises fair‑housing concerns and recommended any resident‑level demographic program be managed separately and directly by the city.

Next steps and public input: Staff plans stakeholder outreach to landlords, tenant groups, affordable housing providers and property managers through September and October, and to finalize a sole‑source justification for the vendor before returning to council with implementing administrative regulations and fee proposals in November. Council members asked staff to consider climate‑resilience fields (solar, battery storage), coordination with County or HUD inspections for affordable housing, and whether the inventory can identify beneficial ownership and out‑of‑state investors. Public commenters asked about tenant data protections and the vendor sole‑source rationale; staff said the vendor’s data‑scraping and user‑interface capabilities are rare among providers and that they will continue negotiations and return to council before any final contract.

What’s next: Staff will continue stakeholder outreach, finalize the vendor agreement, and bring fee and administrative changes to the council in November. No formal contract or fee change was approved Sept. 16.