Concern over the health and safety of rental units grows

Are Bellingham residents living in rental units that are unsafe and unfit for habitability?

Many citizens of Bellingham are expressing concern that rental units are in violation of health and safety codes. For years the City of Bellingham has debated implementing a rental licensing program, which would require the inspection of rental homes either through a city-provided inspector or through a landlord self-certification system.

The city council will soon vote on whether or not to continue with the development of a rental licensing program. If set into motion, the program has four different possible methods of approach; health and safety, nuisances, regulating tenancy situations and making efforts to engage universities in cooperatively solving problems with off-campus rentals.

Although the method of approach Bellingham could potentially use remains unclear, citizens are concerned about the health and safety of rental units, “people are living in rundown houses and slums,” said Anne Mackie, owner of Nelson’s Market and president of the York Neighborhood Association, “[health and safety] is a major issue.”

Health and safety of the rental units

Mackie believes that low-income populations (including students) renting in Bellingham are taken advantage of, and recalls numerous stories (and personal experiences) of tenant’s living in homes filled with mold and bad wiring. “When I went to school in the 60s’ I lived in pretty crummy places, that are still standing,” said Mackie. Many of the homes in Bellingham are old, and with that comes serious health and safety issues such as bad wiring, mold and structural issues, Mackie’s concern is the lack of response from landlords to deal with this natural aging. “People will be sick for 3 months and then move and get better, they’ve been sick because of where they’ve been living,” she said.

Mackie is co-blogger of “Neighbors for Safe Rentals” with Dick Conoby. “If it looks like crap, it is crap,” said Conoby of rental units in Bellingham. “My experience as a renter has been awful,” he said, “it’s hard to get landlords to do any work, trying to get people to fix things and pay for damages, just terrible.”

In 1998, the City of Pasco, Wash. began implementing their rental licensing program. According to Mitch Nickolds – Inspection Services Manager in Pasco – the program was created as a response mainly to overcrowding; landlords were renting single rooms to entire families, emergency response would enter the homes and the city identified that it was a major issue.

At least 20% of properties were in need of a substantial upgrade, and there were serious issues with gas and electrical maintenance, said Nickolds. “Homes with young kids would have stoves on top of milk crates, people were just making do anyway they could live.”

The current legal system

“I have 15-years experience dealing with landlords I call ‘the slumlords of Bellingham,’” said Richard Maneval, president of the Association of Bellingham Neighborhoods and a landlord himself, “when you have a difficult landlord the legal system isn’t helpful at all.”

The residential landlord-tenant act (59.18 RCW) states that all landlords must keep their homes habitable during tenancy, and that it is illegal to rent out a home that is knowingly in violation of health and safety codes. Tenants have the right to notify landlords and complain of unfit living situations, as well as to have their rental unit remedied within a timely manner.

“The issue is people are apprehensive about complaining,” said Maneval, “especially if they are just going to move.” Other community members have also questioned the effectiveness of the current complaint-based system. “You need a license to have a dog, I need a license to sell pancakes, rental housing is a business and should be treated as such,” said Mackie, “there are many, many families and nonstudents, as well as students, who need protection from the city.”

The Pasco program

According to Nickolds, since the rental licensing program has been in effect in Pasco the non-compliance rate fallen to between 2 and 3 percent which is a significant drop since before the implementation of the program. Because landlords were selling property they didn’t want to fix, it also reduced the rental market by 15 percent. In 18 months Pasco had 3 major multi-family unit projects completed by developers who were attracted to the high occupancy rate that came as a result of the decrease in the rental market.

“The best thing that came out of the program,” said Nickolds, “was that it educated landlords and tenants collectively, people now know what they are doing.” The majority of complaints currently come from people who are simply just unfamiliar with the system.

The future of Bellingham rental licensing

“I love that Bellingham is involving citizens in the development stages, it means that everyone is being educated as the process continues,” said Nickolds, “because of this Bellingham won’t have the same problems that Pasco did [when implementation of the program first began].”

“I want a guarantee that housing in Bellingham is safe,” said Mackie when asked her preferred outcome of the continuing debate, “I want it well kept, legally run and for people who are paying rent to be guaranteed good housing.”

Highland Heights Park renovation completed

The completion of the renovation of Highland Heights Park will be celebrated with a grand re-opening ceremony.

Bellingham City Parks and Recreation has completed the renovation of Highland Heights Park in the Alabama Hill Neighborhood. The park has been closed and under renovation since the first week of March. Highland Heights Park, located on Vining Street between Maryland Place and Illinois Lane received new playground equipment during the renovation. The park is also home to a basketball court, open green space, and a picnic area.

In celebration of the re-opening of Highland Heights Park the Alabama Hill Neighborhood Association is hosting a barbeque and ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for Saturday, June 5th. The grand re-opening celebration will be held at the park, from noon until 2 p.m., all members of the community are welcome to attend.

To learn more about Highland Heights Park please visit these sites:

Grand Re-opening Celebration Invitation http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51238367419#!/photo.php?pid=5694273&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=51238367419&aid=-1&id=568146678

Highland Heights Park http://www.cob.org/services/recreation/parks-trails/highland-heights-park.aspx

Bellingham City Parks and Recreation http://www.cob.org/government/departments/parks/index.aspx

City council debates next step in rental licensing

Bellingham City Council will vote on the next step to take in the rental licensing dilemma in future meetings.

Whether or not Whatcom County will progress with a rental licensing program will soon be up for vote among city council members. According to council member, Terry Bornemann, the council is currently scheduling a meeting for the planning committee to discuss options for rental licensing. It will take 4 “yes” votes out of 7 for the council to move forward and examine the framework of the potential program.

In 2008, Mark Gardner - public policy analyst for the City of Bellingham, put together a study on the effect of rental licensing in other cities, highlighting the most feasible options for Bellingham. According to the study the recommended program would be phased-in; beginning with property registration and landlord education, from there a cycle of inspection or self-certification would most likely be implemented city-wide.

The goal of self-inspection would be “to augment a more formal inspection process that can reduce program costs and reduce the burden on rental property owners,” according to the study put together by Gardner. It would require landlords to inspect dwelling units themselves, certifying that they would pass all health and safety regulations.

“It’s really hard to tell at this point what the council [collectively] is thinking,” said Bornemann, “it’s important to get discussions started.” According to Bornemann, some members of the council want a more limited program, like a complaint-based or self-certification system. Some want the city to take an aggressive stance, and some aren’t fully informed about the situation. “My personal philosophy is to start off with the least intrusive program and see if it works,” said Bornemann.

New bill complicates decision making

The proposed implementation of the program has only become more complex since the passing of a new bill in early March. State Senate Bill 6459 states that a local government can only require the inspection of rentals every three years, it also details the rules of inspections for large units (such as apartment buildings) and the allowance of sample inspections within dwelling units.

“Right now everything is a little cloudy because of the new law,” said Gardner “no one knows exactly how it will affect things because it is brand new.” Gardner expressed that the 3-year cycle of inspection, whether city-governed or self-certified, would not be helpful “at that point it’s like ‘why bother?’” he said.

The framework of the type of program potentially implemented in Bellingham is still being debated city-wide

In his study, Gardner provided examples of both inspector-certified and self-certified programs; he believes self-certification may not be as effective. “It’s kind of like an honor system, a self-certification system would be more effective than the current complaint-based system, but less effective than an inspector program, you can also combine the two,” he said.

Richard Maneval, chair of the Association of Bellingham Neighborhoods, doesn’t believe self-certification should be included in the potential program at all, “self-certification is not effective,” he said “it depends too much on the individuals, I have a fear that the city will still fail to be aggressive at enforcing this thing. The means and methods for solving this problem need to come from the government.”

Although there is debate about what program would be most successfully implemented in Bellingham, many believe that a program is necessary, “rental licensing is the direction many cities are going,” said Gardner “overtime as problems [with rentals] increase cities begin to see it as necessary.”

Rental licensing to affect more than just rental units

The Alabama Hill Neighborhood is examining the effect of a rental licensing program on residents who are not directly associated with the business of rentals.

The Bellingham City Council is thinking of allowing landlords a self-certification system, instead of the more common approach; housing certification granted by an outside source. In this system landlords would certify themselves that the rental unit did not break any health and safety violations.

For Dick Conoby – blogger of “zonemaven” – this is not enough. He believes that self-certification needs to have back up. He says that in terms of the rental licensing issue in Bellingham, if self-certification was followed up by an inspection by an outside source, that plan could work, but otherwise he wouldn’t solve the major issues of health and safety.

The new program, either self-inspection or a more regulated system will not have a major effect on people who are not directly involved in the business of rental units in Bellingham. Larry Nicholas, president of the Alabama hill Association, estimates that Alabama Hill is 15 percent rental units and 85 percent non-rental units.

However, although there are only 15 percent rental units, the number of landlords residing within Alabama Hill will ensure that more than 15 percent of the neighborhood population will be affected by any new policy.

The summary of the proposal estimated that landlords will have an annual fee of thirty to thirty-six dollars. Although the fee is likely a feasible amount for most landlords, the cost of fixing all health and safety problems found in a home that is essentially open to the public is expected to be high for landlords who do not sufficiently take care of their property, which realistically, is the majority of them, either unknowingly or intentionally.

The city is still in the debate over rental licensing:

Click here to read the proposal https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=4b4f4b7553&view=att&th=1289992282f1f471&attid=0.1&disp=vah&zw

Click here to see the city council’s meeting discussion of the proposal (Dec. 7th)
http://www.cob.org/web/council.nsf/webmaterials!OpenForm&Start=14.7&Seq=1

Click here to read the Dick Conoby’s blog zonemaven dedicated to the issue
http://zonemaven.blogspot.com/

Big Rock Garden Park opens season with sculpture show

Big Rock Garden Park’s mixture of nature and art makes it a regionally unique venue for its annual sculpture exhibition.

The Big Rock Garden Advisory Committee put on its annual Invitational Sculpture Exhibition on Sunday at Big Rock Garden Park, welcoming the highest turnout the event has seen. With over 300 people attending the committee was pleased with the turn out said Becky Hutchins, member of the Big Rock Garden Advisory Committee and chair of the event.

“This year, the show was done differently than in the past,” said Hutchins, “usually it is a juried show, this year because of diminished budgets we made it an invitational, we wanted to focus on the permanent program.”

In a juried show, a committee (separate from the Big Rock Garden Advisory Committee) receives and reviews applications and art and decides what sculptures will go in the show. This year, the committee decided to ask five artists who have permanent work in the park to return with a new piece.

“The objective is to show how their work has evolved,” said Mary Ann Crawford, member of the Big Rock Garden Advisory Committee. The show, which runs from May until September, currently has 36 permanent pieces as well as the 5 temporary ones that are for sale.

“We’re thrilled they asked us [the artists] to bring something back,” said Tracy Powell, an artist - with art currently permanently located in the park as well as featured in the show - who has been coming to the park since it was still just a sculpture garden, “we love it here,” he said.

“The exhibition sparks discussion about art which is important,” said Hutchins “it creates an event that draws people to the park, specifically to the art.”

Big Rock Garden Park is “a gem of a place,” said Hutchins

The park itself is a naturally beautiful venue that is combined with the arts, making it regionally a very unique and natural space, said Hutchins. In 1993, the land was bought by the city from the Drake family, who had previously used it as a sculpture garden. Since then the 8-acre land plot has been used as a venue for various concerts and art exhibitions.

“The city bought the park because they believed it could potentially be a unique resource for the public,” said Hutchins “what’s important is identifying how unique this space is, usually places like this are much more formal, [Big Rock Garden] is open to the public and user-friendly, it makes art more accessible to everyone.”

Looking into the future of the park

The committee - which is entirely volunteer coordinated - is looking forward to taking the next step in improving the park, the approximately 5.5 acres of land that is undeveloped will most likely remain that way. “The master plan is to increase accessibility to the park,” said Hutchins.

The committee is a non-profit, and although it is supported by the City Parks and Recreation department, budget cuts have taken their toll. “The committee really stepped up this year [to put on this event],” said Rae Edwards, who works with the Bellingham Parks Volunteer Program.

“The next step is to get more public support,” said Hutchins, looking ahead the committee hopes to replace old timbers with rock walls, groom and develop existing landscape and develop the southwest corner of the park.

“This park is a great resource,” said Anne Theiler, resident of South Bellingham, “in addition to the Western Washington University outdoor sculpture park, this could really help Bellingham set its mark.”

Possible required licensing for landlords causes stir on Alabama Hill

Alabama Hill landlords and tenants prepare for a potential new policy requiring licensing for property owners.

The Alabama Hill Association, AHA, neighborhood meeting took place Tuesday evening, fueling discussions over a potential license requirement for landlords. According to the executive summary of the “Options for Rental Housing Licensing and Quality Inspection Program in Bellingham” half of the homes in Bellingham are rentals. The summary calls for a shared responsibility among tenants and owners, a universally applied policy, the right to regulate the business of renting, and a least-cost design to achieve policy goals.

The program was introduced by JD Marris of Keller Williams Realty, president of the Whatcom County Realtors Association. Marris explained the four different methods of approach used when implementing the new policy, the “recipe for regulation” includes: focusing on nuisances, targeting housing quality and safety, regulating tenancy situations, and making efforts to engage universities in cooperatively solving problems with off-campus rentals.

Increased complaints about tenants call for addressing nuisances

According to Marris, the number of complaints called on Bellingham rentals has gone up; he calls for a solution focused on dealing with nuisances. The program would require annual checks on rental homes, a local landlord group with an area representative, and a 5 point system of nuisance violations, where tenants could potentially be evicted for a series of complaints against them.

The licenses would likely be costly to achieve, and would require the employment of more city officials for increased enforcement, the cost on average of a city employee is 70,000 dollars, said Marris.

Marris’ concern is mainly in regards to students “60 percent of the WWU population is off-campus and youngsters that attend local colleges like to…misbehave,” he said while addressing the AHA, the issue is “parties in close proximity to neighbors who frown on such activities.”

Richard Maneval, chair of the Assocation of Bellingham Neighborhoods believes the problem lies elsewhere “I’ve never had a problem with students,” said Maneval, who is currently a Bellingham landlord, “the problem is not with students, it’s with people who have dropped out, or who are not attending school.”

Health and safety also a major issue among Bellingham homes

This prospective plan has been discussed in Bellingham before, “a lot of things were promised, but nothing was done,” said Richard Conoby, affiliated with the Campus Community Coalition at Western Washington University.

Out of the 35,000 living units in Bellingham, 17,000 are rental, and at least 8,000 are rented by students, said Conoby, he believes something needs to be done about rental housing in Bellingham, but the problem is not students, its safety, “this is not just about students, not just about nuisances, this is about health and safety,” he said.

Sharon von See, resident of Alabama Hill has a daughter living in rental properties, “I think it’s a good idea,” she said of the proposed plan “my daughter lives in places I would never live in, landlords would raise the rent, but they would also have to take care of them [rental units].”

The executive summary states that the program would be based off of a similar plan executed in Pasco, Wash. where – according to Conoby – inspectors discovered 85 percent of the houses to have problems, 15 percent to have serious health and safety concerns, and at least 10 percent to be molding.

Neighborhoods slated to be at risk of depreciating

“The issue for us is about health and safety,” said Conoby, and we don’t want to “change the nature of the neighborhood” with deteriorating houses, he said.

According to Maneval, in Alabama Hill half to one of every ten houses is a rental unit, the neighborhood is making an effort to not let rental houses affect the quality of the neighborhood like what has happened in surrounding neighborhoods, he said.

Maneval is fighting to keep the nature of Alabama Hill alive. Unsafe rental houses “create an unhealthy environment, and devalue the neighborhood,” he said. After 15 years experience dealing with “slumlords” and a legal system that is of no help, something needs to be done, said Maneval. There is uniqueness about Bellingham that comes from its renting population, if this proposed plan is applied, we’re going to need to educate and enforce it, he said.

Alabama Hill residents look ahead for change

Residents of the Alabama Hill neighborhood voice their concerns and look into updating their neighborhood proposal.

Residents of Alabama Hill are looking at prospective change to be included in an updated neighborhood plan for the area. Alabama Hill is one of five Bellingham neighborhoods that has not updated its neighborhood plan since January of 2005. “We did have a committee working on a rewrite, but never completed it,” said Larry Nicholas, President of the Alabama Hill Association.

Nicholas said that some of the main concerns discussed included: finding alternate routes going in and out of the neighborhood in case of a need for evacuation, adding small pocket parks and attempting to enlarge the boundaries of Alabama Hill.

Richard Maneval, chair of the Association of Bellingham Neighborhoods, expressed his concern about crime safety in the area. “We essentially have criminals that are our neighbors,” he said about an increase in late-night car prowls. Maneval is asking residents to take precautionary measures “Light it up, lock it up, look and listen,” he said.

Traffic safety is another issue within the neighborhood, said Maneval, Alabama Street is a major arterial that acts as a connecting road between Silver Beach and Roosevelt neighborhoods, “More speed bumps would be nice, even though I don’t like them, they slow you down,” said Jason Speek a resident of the area.

The parks of Alabama Hill are another topic consistently addressed. The latest proposal aimed to take care of overpopulation in the parks because of an influx of nonresidents using them.

The future of the parks

Due to the congestion of St. Clair Park specifically, the plan suggested “to refurbish existing parks,” Highland Heights Park is in the midst of said refurbishing. The park began renovation in the first week of March and according to the Bellingham Herald is set to likely be completed by June. The renovation of the park is the biggest change happening in the area now, said Maneval.

Maneval has also said the general upkeep of the area is a major priority, “We are mainly looking for enhancements in the beauty of the streets,” he said.

“I’ve been walking this trail for 70 years,” said Zane Engels, who moved to Alabama Hill in 1937, of the Greenway Railroad Trail “I’m just glad they saved all this, all this green area, it’s just a neat, neat neighborhood.”