Housing Commission

9/26/2023 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Jessica Bridge, Robert Millar, Shaun Gilpin City Staff Present: Jazmin Hurley, Eric Vorwald Guests Present: None Call to Order by: Jessica Bridge Meeting Start Time: 6:05 PM II. Public Comment Owner-occupied resident of Winooski. Wanted apartment to be for caregiver but turned it in Airbnb so they could continue to life in Winooski. Also considering renting to travel nurses (goes beyond 30 days is considered a long-term rental). Doug Campbell: Lives at 323 Weaver St and 327 Weaver St is neighbor property. Can have up to 14 people at a time. This hasn’t helped Winooski, is not doing anything for the community. This is all about taxation and that is it. For example. the owner can live in Colchester and own a short-term rental that allows 14 people at a time. III. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: Amendments made in comment section Motion by: Jessica Second: Anna 1. Increase in STR availability has brought down their cost, it has increased long-term housing cost (cost needs to be added) Under 5 Discussion: change police to policy IV. New Members and Introductions New member, Sean Gilpin. Sean is new to Winooski. During the day, director of housing at the state in Montpelier. Ambassador coming in from Inclusion and Belonging- recently appointed someone named Lily and they will be here potentially in November. V. Discussion: Housing Trust Fund Changes - Updates Decision: Move forward to make changes and send to CC Motion by: Robert Second: Jessica VI. Discussion: Housing Trust Fund Changes - Interest Rate Buydown Policy  Second: Jessica VI. Discussion: Housing Trust Fund Changes - Interest Rate Buydown Policy l For HIP, some worried about verification (Jazmine talking to code enforcement, other city departments) l Financial procedural questions that will be brought back to the group l For IRB, question about triplex being eligible. Group felt as long as everything else qualifies, that is fine l As we go through IRB policy guidelines, some things Prabin highlighted that is also in the DPA, so we might have to make slightly changes. l Leslie said the last sentence in the introduction is a bit confusing- Jazmine will rework sentence because that can confuse folks in thinking the amount will change l added link to explain AMI and added a chart (needs to be updated yearly) l Prabin suggested percentages for buy down instead of a solid number- someone might not get exactly that amount l We can just keep what people would be required to pay back instead of having two percentages l Prabin also suggested if we don’t have an MOU with anyone else, can we switch it to Opportunities? What if someone meets all the requirements, but doesn’t want to work with Opportunities, is that limiting? We can check with the city attorney. If it is a program Opportunities is offering, that is fine. Maybe say any VT based credit union, which will limit. l Application procedure: has been changed- before it said application would go directly to city then bank, but not how it works in practice. Swapped steps to reflect that. l Next steps: recommend to City Council. Jazmine can make edits then send to CC VII. Discussion: Short-term Rentals l Reviewed values as determined by the Housing Commission l Recommendation is expansion of Chapter 17 public building registry l advised not to move forward with land use l Proposal will look a lot like South Burlington l hearing date is set to address the Chapter 17 changes l Steps associated: ¡ STR owners participate in public building registry program ¡ indicate on the public building registry form that they operate an STR ¡ Pay all additional associated fees ¡ A license is issued to the STR owner ¡ Enforcement mechanisms put in place to ensure compliance l Potential existing STRs are out of compliance of the current ordinance, and not part of registry l Other required information: ¡ name, address of property owner, registered corporate agent, etc. Whoever is designated as responsible for services on the property, requirement for adherence to occupancy limitations as stated by Article VI of Chapter 9 Minimum Housing Standards (Winooski ordinance) l certificate of liability insurance (specific short-term rental insurance) l requirement that insurance covers the length of the entire public building registry year l Information made available to all STR guests l posted certificate of license, emergency evac route, information on winter parking bans, allotted parking for unit l Associated fees ¡ Hosted unit: $100-300 per year  l requirement that insurance covers the length of the entire public building registry year l Information made available to all STR guests l posted certificate of license, emergency evac route, information on winter parking bans, allotted parking for unit l Associated fees ¡ Hosted unit: $100-300 per year ¡ Unhosted unit: $200-400 per year ¡ ordinance will make reference to Chapter 9 for the fees so they can be adjusted ¡ additional yearly fees are around one night average for a STR in the area (according to AirDNA, the night average is currently $175-225) ¡ Money collected would go to the Housing Trust Fund ¡ if we had 40 STRs with 50% compliance based on summer peak of 80 STRs, would be additional $6000 into fund l license: ¡ upon sale of home, any license is returned to the city for reissue ¡ license is issued to individual person, not a corporation ¡ license can be revoked and fees incurred if the owner does not comply with regulations listed in this ordinance ¡ license number needs to be published (maybe last four digits)- allows for some sort of enforcement if owner does not have property registered ¡ the number of available licenses for unhosted STRs could be percentage l enforcement: ¡ if someone fails to pay the registration fee, $25 fine l Steps: ¡ hopeful to get language finalized, approved by city council, out for rental registry for next July 1, 2024 l Discussion: ¡ Shaun: when does someone get denied a license? (number of police calls, fire dept, neighbor complaints, etc.) ¡ Jazmine can pull from other ordinances and at next meeting can look at fees and penalties structure ¡ Eric: nothing built into city’s regulation to address enforcement with STRs. Act 47, state legislature now says as long as a property has one off-street parking space, that is law. We cannot require owners to have more than one space ¡ homestead v nonhomestead can simplify it, already in existence ¡ hosted short-term rental: property meets the state definition of homestead ¡ only distinction will be cost and availability of licenses ¡ parking: change of use? Use is a dwelling and how it is being used is outside of land use laws VIII. Adjourn Motion by: Jessica Second: Anna Meeting End Time: 8:03 PM