RHINO News for November 26, 2023

In the News

• Nov. 16, 2023. WTVG Another Toledo renter having issues with out-of-town property management companies. "Toledo Renter, Carol Smith, says she moved into a house on Walnut Street about a year ago and since then, she has had three property owners. According to Smith, the property has been owned by KRCH Realty, 12B Residential and the current owner, Evernest. warning pop up audio

• Nov. 20, 2023, cleveland.com. Residents of 18 Shaker apartments served with ‘order to vacate’ due to no heat. "SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Shaker Heights officials have been impressed with the "proactive" efforts of at least one of the new large-scale apartment owners, with a contractor signed to fix all four elevators in the five-story Kemper Place some of which have been inoperable for years. And local tenants' advocacy organizations are also lauding the city for staying on the case as well."

• November 20th 2023. WSYX Columbus continues to battle affordable housing crisis amid surging population growth "Columbus continues to face an affordable housing crisis which is expected to get worse as the population rapidly rises. According to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, central Ohio is on track to exceed 3 million people by 2050. In order to keep up, MORPC said 14,000 homes need to be built every year for the next ten years. Columbus residents said the housing that is available is not always affordable."

• November 17, 2023. Enquirer. 'We want help.' Downtown's homeless and panhandlers aren't a threat "Downtown residents, homeless advocates and health experts alike told The Enquirer the public shouldn't give money to people panhandling. Downtown's unhoused population are the ones at risk Those who are homeless are more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators, research shows, with the exception of homeless encampments where crime is more common."

• Nov 21, 2023 WEWS. Warrensville Heights tenants protest at city hall over poor apartment living conditions 'Northeast Ohio tenants are once again demanding their city take more action in improving living conditions at their apartment complex, this time in the City of Warrensville Heights. Tenants living at the Granada Gardens apartments protested at Warrensville Heights city hall before the Nov. 21 council meeting, asking the city to move forward on dozens of code violations it found at the property. The battle over quality of life issues with the New York apartment complex owner is one in a series of fights News 5 has covered and followed through on over the past year concerning tenants and their out-of-town landlords."

• Nov 23, 2023. WCPO. Dozens of Avondale residents still displaced on Thanksgiving after pipe bursts " It’s been almost three weeks since 91 residents were told to vacate the building, which is located at 3700 Reading Road, after a burst pipe knocked out power. Residents were hoping to return last week, but the return has now been delayed until at least mid-January. The building lost power on Nov. 4. 'I don’t like it, but there’s nothing I can do about it,' said resident Cathy Walker. Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) has placed residents in hotels in Sharonville, about 11 miles away from the property."

• Nov 21, 2023. WEWS. Neighbors organize amid concerns over rising rent in Stark County retirement community. "More than a year after a new company took over their manufactured home community, neighbors in Navarre Village say they’re increasingly concerned about rising rents."

• November 21, 2023. Columbus Dispatch. Mailings, court and police documents offer clues in Colonial Village housing scam. "More than 850 Haitian immigrants are living in mostly abandoned apartments in Colonial Village on the East Side. Residents say they were scammed into paying $1,200 for two-bedroom apartments without heat, hot water, and electricity. Court records and police documents, as well as mail left behind at the management office of the Colonial Village apartments in Columbus, offer more insight into how hundreds of Haitian refugees ended up in unsafe apartments there with no heat or hot water. The Columbus Division of Police has opened an embezzlement case in which the East Side complex’s owner is named as the victim, but it is unclear if authorities have opened a human trafficking case over the transfer of the asylum seekers from Florida to Columbus. Separately, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein has sought to name the property’s owner, court-appointed receiver and former management company as defendants in a long-running civil case regarding code violations at the property."

• Nov. 21, 2023. (WSYX) Whitehall residents gather to voice their opinions on a contentious vote on a housing development. "It was a packed house Tuesday night at Whitehall City Hall as residents filled the room of the city council chambers to voice concerns and opposition against a new housing development proposal. Residents say the addition of over 46 half-a-million-dollar homes to Fairway Boulevard is not what they want to see when they look out their windows. They also say it will ruin nature and cause more congestion on their streets. A scheduled public hearing and vote was supposed to take place Monday, but because the crowd was so large, the council decided to remove the agenda items and postpone them for a later date."

• November 22, 2023. Ideastream. Cleveland strengthens response to protect public from nuisance properties. "Cleveland is toughening up its policies to tackle nuisance properties and protect renters from unresponsive landlords. Under Cleveland’s current authority, the city can only board up and demolish unsafe properties declared public nuisances. But on Monday City Council approved legislation to empower the city to make certain repairs to those nuisance properties. The new policy will give the city authority to pull from its demolition budget to fix a problem like fixing a broken elevator in a senior housing building or repairing an apartment’s boiler during the winter if the owner does not do so." 

• November 22nd 2023. KOMO News via Columbus WSYX. Landlord says Seattle housing policies 'enabling' problematic tenants. "A landlord said he tried for months to get help with a tenant who kept overdosing on fentanyl, but the Seattle Housing Authority (SHA) was slow to step in.The tenant, whom KOMO News is not naming, received Section 8 assistance to help him pay his rent. The Seattle Housing Authority administers that program locally, and they are supposed to require tenants to meet certain obligations to keep receiving those taxpayer dollars." So many questions unanswered. Why didn't the landlord evict the tenant? Why did Columbus channel 6 air the story? Is this just an effort to undermine Federal assistance to low income renters?

• Nov. 23, 2023. WTVG I-TEAM Neighborhood Nuisance: Neighbors claim property management company is dumping trash. "Piles of garbage bags have been lining the street outside a home on Westbrook Drive for almost a month. The man who lives across the street is fed up. He called the 13 Action News I-Team for help. 'It’s the city dump,' Tom Homer said. 'Somebody, on the first, came by with a trailer full of trash and dumped it there.' He caught the dumping on camera. 'I was like, ‘What the hell is this guy doing?’ ”

News you can use

• The Federal Trade Commission has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that, once finalized, would allow this federal agency to regulate junk fees across industries, including junk fees in the rental housing market. To ensure that this rule will help tenants avoid surprise and misleading fees, the FTC needs to hear from tenants and tenant advocates, especially in light of strong industry resistance. Short on time? NCLC has put together a great resource for tenants and legal services attorneys to submit comments directly to the FTC, which includes a breakdown of the different types of junk fees in rental housing and a set of directed questions to answer.

• Nov 20, 2023. WCPO. COVID-19 rental assistance money still available for Butler County residents in need. "Roughly $1.5 million in rental assistance money is still available in Butler County, according to SELF, the organization administering the Emergency Rental Assistance Program for the county. 'We're hearing that we're still very much a godsend to a lot of households that have needed that assistance,' said SELF executive director Jeffrey Diver."

• Nov 20, 2023. WCPO. Here's what renters should know if they lose heat in winter.  "Landlords in Cincinnati can be fined for each day they fail to provide "adequate" heat to their renters as temperatures outside begin to drop this season. The Cincinnati Health Department issued a press release reminding landlords and tenants that the city has requirements about rental spaces that go without heat in the winter. The requirements apply specifically to rental units in which residents don't have individual control of heating operations. The Cincinnati Board of Health requires inside temperatures to stay at a minimum of 70 degrees once outside temperatures fall below 60 degrees for 24 consecutive hours." Keep in mind that In Ohio master metered multifamily properties are protected by https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-4901:1-18-08

• Nov 22, 2023. WCPO 'Very disturbing': Florence apartment officials say someone stole dozens of packages. "The incident was captured on security cameras.  A police report said suspects gained entry to the Tapestry Turfway mail room 'due to the door not properly shutting.' It is possible someone might have left it open." Does your mail room have security?

• Nov. 22, 2023. WTVG. I-TEAM Neighborhood Nuisance: Residents at Toledo apartment complex fear for safety "Residents at Madonna Homes, an apartment complex for people who are elderly or disabled, say they now fear for their safety after a new management company took over and reduced security measures. 'I don’t feel, I don’t feel safe,' Lisa Woodfill, who has lived in the apartments for eight years, said. 'I do live in this place. Okay? I do. 'The only thing is, we don’t have guards, and that is the whole issue. Everybody here is 65 or disabled. We need security guards.' The apartments are located on Huron Street in downtown Toledo. Woodfill says the location is part of the problem. 'We’re right across from the TARTA, but the thing is, there’s a lot of homeless that hang out at TARTA, and at night, they don’t have anywhere to go, and there’s these apartment buildings right here,' Woodfill said." Warning: pop up audio.

• Related? Nov. 21, 2023 WTVG. TARTA works to find bus shelter tenant a place to stay  "We first brought you the story last week about a woman who had all her belongings at the bus stop on Secor and Monroe. TARTA told 13 Action News that they would clean up the bus stop and refer her to the Lucas County Homelessness Board. 13 Action News approached the stop today. There was a comforter there and other items. 13 Action News called TARTA to see what had been done since Friday. The TARTA spokesperson said the cleaning supervisor had been out there and talked to Tucker on numerous occasions offering to help. We were also told a cleaning worker was coming out today. When he arrived, she appeared agitated and began yelling at him. He patiently waited for her to pack up her things before cleaning. He tells me he’s been out before, but Tucker keeps coming back."  Warning: pop up audio.

• November 24, 2023. Columbus Dispatch. Where to access housing, food and health care resources throughout Columbus. "Do you or does anyone you know need extra help? Dozens of social services and nonprofits throughout Columbus and Central Ohio are looking to help people with housing, health care or even just a hot meal. Below is a list of resources you can access in Columbus. Some programs may require identification or other personal documentation. Please check with the individual provider for what they require you to provide."

Worth a thought

• House Bill 280 in the Ohio General Assembly will expand lead abatement tax credits for corporate landlords, de-regulate Department of Health laws regulating lead professionals, and make "preemptive" changes to local lead safety laws. See attached analysis. Questions for housing advocates. Should the General Assembly be providing new tax incentives to LLC owners who already receive a $250,000 exemption from state taxes? Should local governments with lead safe certificate laws (Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, and Toledo) permit the Ohio General Assembly to legislate their local laws? Should the Ohio Department of Health accept legislators overruling the Department's judgement on health codes?

• November 20, 2023. CityLab. No, Really. Building More Housing Can Combat Rising Rents "To many people, new home construction is synonymous with gentrification. But a new analysis reinforces how more supply drives down housing costs. When it comes to housing, seeing is believing. To many, construction cranes are considered a grim harbinger of gentrification, not a sign that rents will soon go down. Urban and suburban residents alike, when asked in a 2022 survey about the expected effects of a sudden housing stock surge, overwhelmingly believed that rents and prices would go up or stay the same, not fall. But a review of recent research into the link between new housing production and apartment affordability offers new evidence that the rules of supply and demand do apply to housing: Building more can slow rent growth in cities and free up more affordable vacant units in surrounding neighborhoods, without causing significant displacement.The analysis, conducted by three faculty directors at New York University’s Furman Center, speaks directly to these so-called supply skeptics. It cites dozens of studies and explains how their findings consistently debunk or complicate concerns that building more housing could do more harm than good to housing affordability." 

• November 17, 2023. Akron Beacon Journal. Ohio needs a property-tax circuit breaker to help low-income renters, property owners."Sharp rises in home assessment values are bringing property-tax relief to the forefront at the Statehouse in Columbus. While various bills may provide a partial answer to the property-tax squeeze being felt by some Ohioans, there is a better solution. It’s one that has been embraced by states across the country: A property-tax circuit breaker." Thanks to MarcusR for sharing.

• November 21, 2023. Shelterforce. Can Residents Get More Out of Tax Credit Housing? "Arrangements in which LIHTC tenants share in the development’s financial benefits, or become partial or full owners, are rare—but some properties have pulled them off. This scan of several examples shows the possibilities—and the conditions needed for them to succeed."