the return of the boogey-man | vanguard press | oct. 22, 1987
TRANSCRIPT
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8/11/2019 The Return of the Boogey-Man | Vanguard Press | Oct. 22, 1987
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T HE F CCNGHT S CAP T AI N P O
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Wf \ n " . I . . d305- ' ~I ~35A~~~aI - ' 3MOH A3- ' I ~a
OCTOBER 22-29,1967
got two proposals on the cityballot that, in essence, wouldhave create a commission thatc o u l d r o l l b a c k r e n ts i n re-sponse to legitimate tenantcomplaints. Landlords spent
515,000 to 520,000 to fight
the proposals, which then-
mayoral-candidate BernieSanders supported and which
died at the polls hy a four-to-
one m arg in . .
For the past six years, the
Sanders administration hasp r o p o s ed a v ar i et y o f meas-ures designed to keep rents
d o w n , i n c l ud i n g a t a x o n r e ale s t a te s p e c u l a t o rs a n d c o n d o - -
M i n iu m c o n v e rs i o n s . There
have been o ther fa r-reach ing
proposals, such as inclusionaryzoning, w h i c h a l d er m e n h a v e
been unwill ing to support thus
far.In the meantime, Clavelle
said, rents, which doubledfrom 1970 to 1980, doubled
again from 1980 to 1985. The
city h a s t a k en a f ew s t e p s f o r -war d. he s aid , but the n faUs afew steps back in retaining andcreating affordable housing.
L a n d l o r d s , h o w e v e r , disput-
ed the figures showing rentshave doubled, which CEDO
officials said came from theBurlington Housing Authority.
cont inued on page 6 ...
of Aldermen before being
adopted.Backers of the proposal,
including CEDO Director
Peter Clavelle, said the fearof rent control, th e "big boog-eyman," is unjustified an d theproposal is not a "strategic ini-
tiative"to be followed up by a
call for rent control. Yet, inthe next breath, Clavelle said
the figures generated from the
proposal could "precipitate a
discussion of the need to reg-
ulate rents."I think many landlords are
fearful that with this informa-tion, we would better under-stand how lucrative" the busi-
ness of renting apartments inBurlington is, Clavelle said,
adding "I'm personally not an
advocate of rent control, butCEDO is charged with devel-
oping an affordable housing
program."Rent control in this coun-
try has had a checkered histo-
ry," Clavelle said. "It's not
always achieved what it was
i n t en d e d t o ," a n d might no tbe "politically salable; he said.
"But anyone who would write
it off as out of the quest ionbecause of the results Ibefore Iwould be na ive," warned Clav-
elle,In 1981, tenant advocates
F ear of the "big boogey-
m a n " - t he w a y o n e top
city official described the
idea of rent control- hasgripped landlords in Vermont's
largest city. In Burlington,landlords are waging a very
vocal war against the latestproposal coming out of City
Hall, one they believe could
lead tocity regulation of rents
in an estimated 7,000 dwell-
ings.At issue is t he Sanders-
admiostration-hacked propos-
al that would require QueenCity landlords to register theirapartments with the city. Un-
der the proposal, landlords
would pay the city 57 0 every
three years for each rental
unit. According to city offi-cials, the money would be used
to fund the city's aparunent
inspection program and twolandlord-tenant programs, in-
cluding an expansion of the
mediation program.However, the more centro-
versial part of the proposal is
the requirement that landlords
tell city hall exactly how much
they're charging for rent in
each unit. Landlords say they
fear the pro-tenant Sandersadministration would use therental figures to fan the Dames
for rent control. And they sus-
pect the proposal is simply a
way for the administration to
raise revenue and squeezemoney from landlords.
Stuart Bennett, who repre-sents Apartment Owners lnc.,
a landlord lobbying group that
has battled city hall in the past,
said th e fear of rent control isjust ified "wh en you con side rthe context in which Sandershas made proposals in con-
nection w i th rental properties.I have yet to see anything that
has been a real positive, let'swork together kind of thing.
It's been all landlord bashing.
So we take a dim view ofrequiring us to give them infor-
marion. There's a certainamount of paranoia, which is
jus tifie d."!I 1 ark Lafayette, a landlord
who owns aboutSOunits in
Burlington, said "The thing is,
when CEDO ICommunity andEconomic Development or -fice] gets the numbers, they'll
twist them
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BOOGEYMAN:
< i l I I continued from page 1
"What we've attempted to
do is come forth with a varie-ty of programs and initiatives
which are moderate responses
to the housing crisis," Clavelle
said, adding, "I view rentalhousing as being a public re-
s o u r c e , a v e r y s c a r c e r e s o u r c e
and it's not an invasion of pri-
vacy to ask what the rents are."
Lafayette, whose brother isfonner a1dennan Paul Lafay-
ette, a Democratic mayoral
candidate last March. said he
does not want CEDO "going
through my business like mal."ClaveUe said landlords have
opposed virtually every pro-
posal and "if we are unsuc-cessful in putting through mod-
erate proposals, it may benecessary for more radical
responses."
But according to Kirby
Dunn, the director of Com-
munity Action (which Ver-mont Tenants Inc. is a part
of) Ilandlords' fear of rent con-
trol is a "red herring" in the
apartment registration fee
discussion.
"Itbas nothing to do with
rent stabilization or rent con-
trol. I'm tired of it being linked
to that," said Dunn, who also
serves on the city PlanningCommission. Landlords have
raised the spectre of rent con-
trol ODalmost every city bous-
ing initiative, she said, includ-
ing an ordinance requiring
how security deposits are to
be returned.
ClaveUe and Dunn said
there have been no recent
efforts to organize tenants tofight for rent control.
"I think the bottom line isthey're Ilandlords Itrying tohide something," Dunn said.
Landlords who dispute there
is a housing crunch may not
want to give the city informa-
tion that "could provide a fac-
tual basis Ifor the cityIto say
how bad it realJy is.""We're not trying to hide
anything," Bennett countered.
"But we're not willing to pay
for the privilege of telling
them" information, much of
which he claimed they could
secure through sources such
as the city assessor's office.
Sanders insisted landlordsshould pay for apartment in-
spections because they are the
ones who benefit from the
service. It is unfair for home-
owners tosubsidize that work,
he said.
"Those people who have
money have by and large
ripped it off," Sanders said.
referring to rich people, in-cluding landlords. "We are the
only community in the state
that tries to in some way sayto landlords, 'you don't have
all the power,' and that's what
they're upset about. Right now
tbey have about 98 percent
and they're very upset they've
lost 2 percent and they'll wor-
ryabout another Ipercent ifIthe ordinance passes], The
city will know how muchrent they charge and how
much money they're really
making. Whoa, that's pretty
sensitive.
"Number one, it's money. [f
you own 100 units and you're
paying S25 a year. that's 52.500
and that's nct chickenfeed. Butnumber two, people who make
money don't like to allow
other people to know how they
make it. Secrecy is very impor-
tant. So when they come for-
ward and say 'We're losing a
fortune,' Ithe city can sayI 'Oh,
is that right? We have infor-
mation you're charging S600
a month," Sanders said.Asked ifthe proposal would
spark rent hikes. Sanders said:
"Under the present system, it
doesn't matter. You're going
to pay anything the landlord
wants you to pay in any case.
The landlord may tomorrow
waite up on the wrong side of
the bed and raise your rent by
20 percent .... Frank!y. Idon'tthink this S2 a month Iif the
fee is passed on to renters] is
the basic problem. It's the first
$400 that's the more seriousproblem."
ClaveUe said he thinks "land-
lords in the community are
benefiting from a tight, expen-
sive housing market Iwhere]the .rents charged have noth-
ing to do with the value of the
property, but how much the
market will bear." He said tbe
housing market inthe QueenCity was stretched by college
students willing to pay higber
rents than the average person
could afford.
Clavelle, echoing DUDn,pointed out that the informa-
tion supplied by the landlords
under the proposal could dis-
pel the myth that no housing
crisis exists.
Raising revenue is part of
the motive behind the propos-
al, ClaveUe indicated. He de-
cried the loss of federal mon-
ey to build affordable housingand the scarcity of land left in
Burlington, were someone will-
ing to build more units.
"We should have a program
in the city which guarantees
every housing unit is safe,
decent and sanitary. And to
guarantee that, you need a
well-staffed and adequately
funded housing inspection pro-.gram," Clavelle said.
Under the Sanders admin-
istration's proposal, a third
housing inspector would be
added. Landlords argued the
city generates enough in in-
spection fees to pay for the
division.
And landlords also criti-
cized using some of the mon-ey for landlord-tenant pro-
grams. which they charged
have thus far been heavily
"pro-tenant."
With anestimated 7 ,000units in the city. the proposal,
if adopted. would generate
almost 5500,000 in revenue.
"1 think it's just a Trojan
horse to raise money," Bennettsaid .