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Committee considers $50,000 pilot for tenant lease behavior program; city staff say legislation may not be required
Summary
The Housing and Human Welfare Committee discussed a $50,000 budgeted pilot to fund a third-party lease-behavior modification program for tenants and properties. Assistant City Manager Vicky Buckland said whether legislation is needed depends on program design; a committee member offered to share a program description with the committee.
The Housing and Human Welfare Committee discussed a proposed pilot program on Dec. 16 intended to address lease behavior and landlord-tenant issues through a third-party nonprofit or for-profit provider.
The committee chair introduced the item, describing it as ID 18424 and saying, "In the budget this year, we set a charge $50,000, and the purpose of it was so that we could establish a pilot program" to work with identified properties and tenants on leasing issues.
Assistant City Manager Vicky Buckland told the committee that whether the city must adopt legislation depends on the scope of the program. "If what you're looking for is kind of in some sense an expansion of the array of things that she's doing, I'm not sure we necessarily need legislation per se," Buckland said, referring to existing city housing staff work. She added that if the proposal would create city oversight or penalties around landlord behavior, that would likely require legislation and a different approach.
Committee member Cynthia said she does not want the city to staff the program and instead would like the city manager's office to contract with a nonprofit or other provider. She said she would forward a program description that piqued her interest and asked the committee to review it. "I'll just forward into this entire committee. Everybody will have a chance to look at that, and just give their opinions," Cynthia said.
Why it matters: The pilot is intended to provide tenants with outside help on lease interpretation and negotiation, and to relieve some of the city staff burden in handling landlord-tenant disputes. Committee members requested follow-up discussions after the committee reviews the program description and clarified the city role.
Next steps
Buckland offered to meet with the sponsoring alderman and staff to discuss options and to identify whether a contract or legislation would be required. The sponsoring alderman said she would circulate the program description and the committee will consider next steps based on that review.
Ending
The committee agreed to review the forwarded program description and discuss procurement or legislative pathways at a future meeting.
