HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/28/2025 Item 5a, Delmartini
Steve Delmartini <steve.delmartini@compass.com>
Sent:Friday, October 24,
To:E-mail Council Website
Subject:Safe Housing item 5a
Honorable Mayor and Council Members
After having in person and/or Zoom meetings with the S.L.O. Tenants Union and two meetings of city staff
I'm still having a difficult time understanding how a registry actually improves housing.
In the staff report it refers to tenants being "fearful" of retaliation and potential eviction and so they don't
report poor conditions etc.... I have owned a property management company and it was fairly simple, if
there was a problem I/we were contacted by the tenant that the water heater went out. In turn we
contacted a plumber and as soon as practical the repair was made. No one got a rent increase or were
evicted over a repair that was needed. I didn't have owners that were "fearful" of completing repairs. I
think both owners and tenants that are under professional management understand how it all works.
Property owners that hire professional management want to be informed, they don't necessarily want to
be involved. I believe that was confirmed in the Zoom meeting we had with the city and three property
management companies. All three property managers use the same software program for
tenant correspondence and that includes repair items. As I understand it, the tenant contacts the
property management company through the program in place regarding the problem, the property
manager processes the repair order and as far as I understood the repair is made and that's the end of it.
These managers also try to conduct annual inspections of the interior of the property if available. This
helps rule out unreported problems as well as room/area conversions etc.... The three property
managers that were on the call handle a combined total of about 1,000 units. In a follow up conversation
they indicated that collectively they have done approximately a half dozen evictions in the last ten
years+/-.
I was somewhat disappointed in the staff report for not including more conversation about
unscrupulous landlords (bad actors) that don't follow many rules, if any. In my opinion, the properties
that are professionally managed don't seem to be the problem as much as those that are not. I
would suggest putting more emphasis on the bad actors vs. forcing the "good actors" to jump through
unneeded hoops.
I like the suggestion in the staff report about just enhancing the existing Business License application to
include some more information that might help the city. It's already in place. I'm going to assume that the
business license required for a rental property does not keep pace with the number of rental properties. I
don't understand why one would think if rental property owners are not conforming with submitting the
Business License requirement why would they voluntarily submit information for a registry.? If the
registry were not voluntary how do you plan on identifying every rental property that would be covered by
the registry as well as achieving compliance ? If you go to the registry program would the Business
License/fee be eliminated?
If I understand the numbers correctly, there were 77 code enforcement actions in 2024. If there are over
8,600 rentals then that's a little less than 1% of the rental inventory that had violations required to be
1
repaired. I think those numbers are right. Ratios are interesting. Maybe this is where the education
of both tenants and property owners about responsibility as well as other issues iis a good thing.
I would like to know if you are for or against rent control, or if you would consider a registry with a
stipulation that it would not lead to an attempt for rent control ?
I appreciate the staff endorsement of a rental assistance program. Everyone struggles financially at
some point and sometimes all you need to get through is one month. You could use the funds it would
take for "new hires" under the registry and have that available for the assistance program.
I believe the letter that was sent by many Realtors to you really does a great job in addressing our
concerns. I hope you take that into consideration on Tuesday.
I appreciate the city staff's time in reaching out to many stakeholders. It is really important and I thank
the council for what you do.
--
Steve Delmartini
To
help
prot
ect
your
priva
cy, …
2