Post by admin on Feb 14, 2007 8:56:14 GMT -5
Suggestions take on rental housing issues
Freehold Borough officials will consider action
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
After a year of work and research, the Freehold Borough Rental Prop-erty Advisory Committee has prepared a list of recommendations to deal with residential issues such as overcrowding, property neglect and absentee landlords.
The recommendations were presented to the Borough Council in Freehold Borough by committee Chairwoman Maureen Haley on Feb. 5.
One of the group's 15 recommendations asks the council to consider adopting an ordinance that would require anyone renting an apartment or a home to provide valid proof of citizenship.
Haley said committee members looked at what was happening in other municipalities with similar populations and rental situations.
"This was one action that was being considered, if not put into place, in some of these towns," Haley said. "As a committee, we felt that we would not be viewed as being comprehensive in our efforts if we did not discuss this action ... We did not feel qualified to recommend this (type of ordinance) for adoption, given the complications associated with it. However, as many of our tenants are undocumented residents, we felt it was worth further exploration by the council and its advisers."
In addition to Haley, the Rental Property Advisory Committee members are Marie Chapman, Frank Argote-Freyre, August Daesener, Lisa Kristiansen, Barbara Oliver and Richard Sobin. Councilman Marc Le Vine is the council's liaison to the committee.
In comments at the meeting, Le Vine said the committee's purpose is to review the status of rental housing in the borough; to research potential solutions to problems that affect the health, safety and welfare of the public; to serve as advisers in this area to the code enforcement department and the council; and to make recommendations to the council regarding rental housing.
Le Vine said the committee members worked hard and took on one of the most difficult challenges facing many small towns today - universal rental code compliance.
"During the past year the committee has carefully reviewed more than 300 news articles on rental and property maintenance and consulted with experienced code officials throughout the nation who are addressing the same issues," Le Vine said. "They then sat down and discussed all of the data, considered many options and worked very hard to produce a comprehensive and concise list of possible recommendations. They did their homework."
The committee's recommendations include the mandatory annual inspections of all borough rental properties (already in place); hiring additional support staff and inspectors in the Code Enforcement Department; tracking complaints and violations in a more efficient manner; and increasing fines for violations of borough codes and ordinances.
(See related story for the complete list of recommendations).
The recommendations also focus on what borough officials say is an ongoing problem - absentee landlords. Le Vine said Freehold had 1,900 rentals as of December and that about 95 percent of those properties are owned by absentee landlords.
Committee members are hoping many of the recommendations will, in the end, discourage landlords' absenteeism.
The recommendation for the council to consider adopting an ordinance that would require renters to show proof of citizenship drew strong objection from Argote-Freyre.
In a letter to Mayor Michael Wilson, Argote-Freyre said the enactment of such a law would "turn borough landlords into immigration officials, a role that would place an unjust burden on them and which would have a discriminatory impact on some renters." He said such an ordinance is "likely unconstitutional."
Le Vine took issue with Argote-Freyre's decision to make that specific recommendation public several hours before the committee's full report was presented to the council.
"Frank failed to keep his word to Chairwoman Haley after promising her that he would only be issuing a letter to Mayor Wilson opposing some the committee's recommendations. Instead, he couldn't run fast enough to the press ... to divert attention from the true spirit of the committee's effort - to improve the overall rental property situation in Freehold for tenants and their neighbors," he said.
Le Vine said it is uncertain which recommendations may be pursued by the council, but said he believes residents are behind the effort to clean up the rental housing situation.
"Bad landlords and their tenants may want to think twice about setting up shop in a town that is positioning itself to hit them very hard when they cross over the line. The Rental Property Advisory Committee deserves the town's appreciation and additional support for continuing to lead the way. They have proved to us that a group of average citizens ... are quite capable of coming up with local solutions to local issues," the councilman said.
Councilman Robert Crawford said he believes the committee made many good recommendations.
"We have to get tough with landlords," he said. "And if we have to embarrass them, we're going to do this publicly. Hopefully, these proposed recommendations will address the 95 percent absentee landlords in our town. We need to make it tough on them and keep trying to bring about stability in our town."
Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer said the council has to do something to address the absentee landlord issue. She said she will reserve her comments on the recommendations until she clarifies any legal issues concerning them.
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2007/0214/Front_page/001.html
Freehold Borough officials will consider action
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO
Staff Writer
After a year of work and research, the Freehold Borough Rental Prop-erty Advisory Committee has prepared a list of recommendations to deal with residential issues such as overcrowding, property neglect and absentee landlords.
The recommendations were presented to the Borough Council in Freehold Borough by committee Chairwoman Maureen Haley on Feb. 5.
One of the group's 15 recommendations asks the council to consider adopting an ordinance that would require anyone renting an apartment or a home to provide valid proof of citizenship.
Haley said committee members looked at what was happening in other municipalities with similar populations and rental situations.
"This was one action that was being considered, if not put into place, in some of these towns," Haley said. "As a committee, we felt that we would not be viewed as being comprehensive in our efforts if we did not discuss this action ... We did not feel qualified to recommend this (type of ordinance) for adoption, given the complications associated with it. However, as many of our tenants are undocumented residents, we felt it was worth further exploration by the council and its advisers."
In addition to Haley, the Rental Property Advisory Committee members are Marie Chapman, Frank Argote-Freyre, August Daesener, Lisa Kristiansen, Barbara Oliver and Richard Sobin. Councilman Marc Le Vine is the council's liaison to the committee.
In comments at the meeting, Le Vine said the committee's purpose is to review the status of rental housing in the borough; to research potential solutions to problems that affect the health, safety and welfare of the public; to serve as advisers in this area to the code enforcement department and the council; and to make recommendations to the council regarding rental housing.
Le Vine said the committee members worked hard and took on one of the most difficult challenges facing many small towns today - universal rental code compliance.
"During the past year the committee has carefully reviewed more than 300 news articles on rental and property maintenance and consulted with experienced code officials throughout the nation who are addressing the same issues," Le Vine said. "They then sat down and discussed all of the data, considered many options and worked very hard to produce a comprehensive and concise list of possible recommendations. They did their homework."
The committee's recommendations include the mandatory annual inspections of all borough rental properties (already in place); hiring additional support staff and inspectors in the Code Enforcement Department; tracking complaints and violations in a more efficient manner; and increasing fines for violations of borough codes and ordinances.
(See related story for the complete list of recommendations).
The recommendations also focus on what borough officials say is an ongoing problem - absentee landlords. Le Vine said Freehold had 1,900 rentals as of December and that about 95 percent of those properties are owned by absentee landlords.
Committee members are hoping many of the recommendations will, in the end, discourage landlords' absenteeism.
The recommendation for the council to consider adopting an ordinance that would require renters to show proof of citizenship drew strong objection from Argote-Freyre.
In a letter to Mayor Michael Wilson, Argote-Freyre said the enactment of such a law would "turn borough landlords into immigration officials, a role that would place an unjust burden on them and which would have a discriminatory impact on some renters." He said such an ordinance is "likely unconstitutional."
Le Vine took issue with Argote-Freyre's decision to make that specific recommendation public several hours before the committee's full report was presented to the council.
"Frank failed to keep his word to Chairwoman Haley after promising her that he would only be issuing a letter to Mayor Wilson opposing some the committee's recommendations. Instead, he couldn't run fast enough to the press ... to divert attention from the true spirit of the committee's effort - to improve the overall rental property situation in Freehold for tenants and their neighbors," he said.
Le Vine said it is uncertain which recommendations may be pursued by the council, but said he believes residents are behind the effort to clean up the rental housing situation.
"Bad landlords and their tenants may want to think twice about setting up shop in a town that is positioning itself to hit them very hard when they cross over the line. The Rental Property Advisory Committee deserves the town's appreciation and additional support for continuing to lead the way. They have proved to us that a group of average citizens ... are quite capable of coming up with local solutions to local issues," the councilman said.
Councilman Robert Crawford said he believes the committee made many good recommendations.
"We have to get tough with landlords," he said. "And if we have to embarrass them, we're going to do this publicly. Hopefully, these proposed recommendations will address the 95 percent absentee landlords in our town. We need to make it tough on them and keep trying to bring about stability in our town."
Councilwoman Sharon Shutzer said the council has to do something to address the absentee landlord issue. She said she will reserve her comments on the recommendations until she clarifies any legal issues concerning them.
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2007/0214/Front_page/001.html