Albany housing advisory panel weighs strengthening rent-review program, registration and legal aid

The Albany Housing Advisory Commission on October 1 heard a staff presentation and public comment on programmatic steps the city could take to strengthen tenant protections, including changes to the rent-review program, a possible rental registry, city-funded legal assistance and expanded multilingual outreach.

Chris Hess, a housing consultant working with the city’s Community Development Department, told the commission that the rent-review service administered by Echo Housing provides ‘‘early consultation, mediation and conciliation’’ but that ‘‘the outcomes of this, however, are advisory. It is a nonbinding mediation process.’’ He said the program is funded by a $15-per-unit annual fee collected through the city’s business-license process.

Hess said the city’s records show relatively few formal mediations—‘‘in the neighborhood of 4 to 8 per year’’ and more recently about four—but a larger number of informational contacts ‘‘somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 60’’ that do not proceed to mediation. He also said staff estimated that about 72% of eligible rental units have a current business license tied to the…