Agenda - Council - 10/27/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

o Tier 3 is for bad properties ■ They pay 3X the normal licensing fees ■ They are subject to yearly inspections o Tier 2 is poor -fair properties ■ These properties are either on a 2-4 year inspection cycle or a 3-5 year cycle ■ They pay elevated fees as well but not as much as Tier 3 o Tier 1 is for good properties that are well managed ■ They actually pay less than what the licensing fee used to be ■ They only need to get inspected every 5-7 years o Minneapolis tries to be consistent with their criteria for determining tiers. The tiered system figures in: ■ Police calls ■ Code violations ■ Letters of intent to condemn • Apartments generally are not the ones that cause Minneapolis the most trouble, most of the tier 3 properties are single family. • Offers voluntary trainings on crime prevention and rental management to license holders. o It is a proprietary program developed by the Minneapolis Police Department ■ Claims to be more effective than crime free housing o The code allows the city to force problem landlords to take this training. • Hard to say exactly what the effects have been, housing values are up and the city is condemning less properties but this could just be because of the end of the recession. • Hard to make an assessment on the program's effects on crime since the city has added a huge amount of housing units in the last 2 years and while total crime numbers have gone up per capita rates have stayed relatively flat. Saint Paul • Does not do registration or licensing but rather issues "Fire Certificates of Occupancy" • Saint Paul tracks and inspects over 13,000 single family homes- started in 2007 • It is a very fluid process in Saint Paul, properties become rentals and then go back to be owner - occupied with frequency • The initial inspection is often quite a project, especially on older homes, since there are often decades of issues to correct • Saint Paul's inspections enforce their property maintenance code and the housing code • Administered by the "Fire Safety Inspection Division," essentially the fire marshal although it exists outside of the fire department • When someone wants to begin renting they apply for a provisional license which allows them to immediately start renting out their property while they await an inspection (there is a sizeable backlog) • The provisional license is $100 and must be renewed every year until an inspection occurs • During the inspection, the inspector will use a compliance matrix to put the property into either group A, B, C, or D based on if there are small issues or potentially life -threatening issues • Group A properties are only inspected every 6 years, Group D properties are inspected every year.