7 15-0261 Subject: Increasing The Rent Program Service Fee
From: Housing & Community Development Department
Recommendation: Receive A Report and Possible Action On A Proposed Ordinance Amending The Master Fee Ordinance (O.M.C. 13320) To Increase The Rent Program Service Fee From $30 Dollars Per Unit To $110 Per Unit [TITLE CHANGE]
The RAP Board operates under rules made by former City Administrator Deborah Edgerly. The Board's systemic problems are due to its outdated and conflicted structure. The Mayor's failure to fulfill her duty to appoint replacement board members has brought work to a standstill.
The Mayor's confusion can be understood when considering that the board has two contrary missions. It must adjudicate rent disputes within the OMC, and draft legislation for the CC. To adjudicate, a body must be impartial, while to legislate is to represent and negotiate on behalf of a constituency. The board is structured as a legislative board with representatives of different constituencies and not a quasi-judicial board of impartial members.
Does the Mayor envision her recent appointee Mr. Fernandez, attorney at EBCLC, pleading his client's case and then walking around to the other side of the table to vote on the matter as a Board member?
As all Councilmembers have repeatedly acknowledged, Oakland is having a serious rental crisis. Rents are skyrocketing; vacancies are at an all-time low; many tenants are paying 70% or more of their income for rent. By 2011, 25% of the city's Black residents and 17% of families with school-age children had already been displaced from Oakland. Due to lack of enforcement funding, many tenants denied use of the Tenant Protection Ordinance continue to be illegally harassed, abused, and forced to pay exorbitant rents.
The increase is not warranted: in every year since the "rental service fee" was set at $30, the rent program has had a budget surplus. Last year, the surplus was $700,000; two years ago the surplus was almost $1 million dollars. There are many questions that need to be deliberated before a fee increase is contemplated. I strongly urge that Councilmembers not approve an increase in the Rental Service Fee at this time.
The RAP Board operates under rules made by former City Administrator Deborah Edgerly. The Board's systemic problems are due to its outdated and conflicted structure. The Mayor's failure to fulfill her duty to appoint replacement board members has brought work to a standstill.
The Mayor's confusion can be understood when considering that the board has two contrary missions. It must adjudicate rent disputes within the OMC, and draft legislation for the CC. To adjudicate, a body must be impartial, while to legislate is to represent and negotiate on behalf of a constituency. The board is structured as a legislative board with representatives of different constituencies and not a quasi-judicial board of impartial members.
Does the Mayor envision her recent appointee Mr. Fernandez, attorney at EBCLC, pleading his client's case and then walking around to the other side of the table to vote on the matter as a Board member?
As all Councilmembers have repeatedly acknowledged, Oakland is having a serious rental crisis. Rents are skyrocketing; vacancies are at an all-time low; many tenants are paying 70% or more of their income for rent. By 2011, 25% of the city's Black residents and 17% of families with school-age children had already been displaced from Oakland. Due to lack of enforcement funding, many tenants denied use of the Tenant Protection Ordinance continue to be illegally harassed, abused, and forced to pay exorbitant rents.
The increase is not warranted: in every year since the "rental service fee" was set at $30, the rent program has had a budget surplus. Last year, the surplus was $700,000; two years ago the surplus was almost $1 million dollars. There are many questions that need to be deliberated before a fee increase is contemplated. I strongly urge that Councilmembers not approve an increase in the Rental Service Fee at this time.