What Will Happen in Piqua Tonight?
A City Commission meeting could define housing in Piqua for generations to come
Tonight, in the Fort Piqua Plaza, the Piqua City Commission will hold the third, and potentially, final reading of the most pivotal piece of legislation the city has seen in years - the new Rental Registration Program proposed for approval by the Piqua City Commission. It’s a special meeting, pushed back from the traditional Tuesday due to National Night Out and will be held at the Fort Piqua Plaza rather than the traditional Commission Chambers.
This summer has been filled with intense debates, as everyone grapples with the state of rental housing in the community. It's a tough situation, with no easy answers, and all eyes are on the five city commissioners as they prepare for a critical vote.
This newsletter even dived into this ordinance earlier this summer. The post was well received by all sides of the issues and it’s worth sharing again as a good introductory piece.
As the five city commissioners debate this measure, what are the options on the table? Well, the City Commission can accept the proposed ordinance as is, try to amend it, or simply hold off on a decision and table the ordinace to a fourth reading. Each choice comes with its own set of consequences, and it's a real challenge to strike the right balance for the community.
The proposed ordinance, called Ordinance No. 6-23, aims to create a new set of regulations known as "CHAPTER 109: Rental Housing Regulations." The goal is to improve rental housing quality and ensure safe conditions for tenants. To achieve this, it requires residential property owners to obtain an annual rental license and subject their rental units to inspections and certifications to comply with a set of housing standards. Sounds good in theory, right?
However, there are some concerns that many believe still need to be addressed. First and foremost, landlords have voiced their worries about the added burden and cost they'll have to bear. We've seen numerous landlords and their sympathizers raise this issue in recent City Commission meetings. They face the challenge of keeping rents affordable while making necessary investments in their rental properties.
For the City, this proposed ordinance will also bring increased administrative costs and concerns. The City estimates it will generate $280,000 a year from inspecting its 4,300 rental units, while spending around $260,000 to $340,000 annually. That's a significant chunk of change!
Personally, I am interested in the time it would take to complete each rental license from application, inspection to license approval. It is probably not a stretch to say it would take two hours to fully approve each application, that will cause 8,600 hours of work to be completed each year. Considering each full-time city employee clocks in 2,000 per year; it is not an exaggeration to think that as many as 4 additional full-time employees will be needed to complete this task in a year.
Privacy is another sticking point. The proposal allows the Code Official to seek an administrative search warrant if a landlord refuses to consent to an inspection. While tenant safety is vital, we must also safeguard property owners' and tenants’ privacy rights and ensure this process adheres to strict legal standards.
Then there's the financial impact on landlords. The $65 application fee and the possibility of misdemeanor charges and daily penalties for violations could discourage property owners from participating in the rental market. This, in turn, may lead to a housing shortage in the city and an increase in sub-standard vacant properties.
Striking a balance between tenant safety and housing affordability is crucial to avoid unintended consequences. The desire to have fewer run down properties, may in fact, lead to even more run down properties as some property owners may opt to keep some units vacant.
The City may also want to think about incentives. As it stands, the proposed law focuses on penalties and enforcement, but doesn't offer any incentives for landlords to maintain safe rental units. Introducing incentives like license fee waivers or extending license periods from one year to three years could encourage landlords to invest in their properties voluntarily.
Regardless of what the shortcomings might be to the ordinance, a ton of credit needs to be given to the city for being transparent about the process. They've set up an informative website with all the information about the proposed regulations, including the language of the original ordinance and the feedback from residents, there is even a checklist that shows what inspectors will be looking for.
However, it's essential that the final proposed ordinance is clear and complete, so everyone knows what they're dealing with. When the ordinance was placed with the agenda packet that was put on the city’s website for their July 18th meeting, it was clear that the ordinance was missing some critical items. The packet included the ordinance that was missing two complete sections (Section 109.06 “Fees” and Section 109.07 “License Issuance). Even the announcement for tonight’s meeting as of the time of this writing (July 31st) didn’t even have the full text of the ordinance, just the meeting agenda.
The City Commission has done a wonderful job of entertaining public comments throughout this process. Trust me, I have listened to hours of the deliberation and public comments on this ordinance through the city’s YouTube channel. However, if the commission is going to have a thoughful discussion on the ordinance, the city would be well served to ensure that the information dissemminated through agenda packets is clear and concise. Residents and stakeholders deserve the latest information to help them make thoughtful arguments and have the entire community come to a workable solution.
I have no doubt, the City Commission is working hard to find the best solution for the community. They've had some impassioned discussions, with residents, officials, and elected officials all striving to make Piqua a better place for everyone. It's tough work, but it's necessary work, and it's what makes the Piqua community stronger.
So, stay tuned for tonight's meeting. Let's see how the process plays out and how the community can move forward with the future of rental housing in Piqua.
Bill, I'd also like to say that the kind of journalism you are providing with the educative content in these newsletter articles is so valuable and necessary for our community. I hope that your readership is continually growing, and I hope you are able to achieve a sponsorship/subscription base that will keep this content coming and available to everyone it can possibly reach. We really, as a people, need to understand how our world works at all levels, and these community dynamics that you discuss are little and poorly understood. Thanks for the good work!
The part that concerns (and irks) me is that any costs associated with the implementation will be passed along to tenants in the form of rent hikes. Landlords (even the name is gross) are charging all-time high rents for properties occupied mostly by people who are renting because they cannot find an affordable path to home ownership. These renters are finding themselves in painfully unsustainable circumstances and a trading-down race to lower and lower quality of living for their dollars. The business model of rental properties is predicated on reinvesting as little as possible in properties to maximize rental profitability. This is fundamentally bad for the communities in which these properties exist as the residential property business siphons prosperity out of the community. I'd like to hear about innovative models in communities where the deck is stacked in favor of affordable housing and a path to ownership for renters for a change instead of in favor of parasitic rental practices that have been the norm for so long. I'd also like to read some commentary on whether rental property owners also pay income tax to the city (they should) in addition to property tax to the county.