City Department vs Independent Board
As of December 2023, the City of Pasadena has created a Rental Stabilization Department and are embarking on a project to hire approximately 22 full time employees. While Measure H lays out a separate group to be independent from the city, the inaugural Rental Housing Board quickly decided that they could not effectively complete their tasks as defined by Measure H.
There is significant confusion on my part in understanding how the City of Pasadena is moving forward in December 2023 with creating a city department under the Charter Amendment from Measure H. As the changes are occurring, I will share some of the details here.
In early December, 2023, the City Council voted to move forward with the creation of a new city department focused solely on managing the rental housing in the city and a separate entity from the existing department of housing.
At the December 4, 2023 meeting, the council approved the ordinance at this link while also removing the review periods of 12 and 24 months suggested at earlier meetings and in the draft.
https://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/2023%20Agendas/Dec_04_23/AR%2017%20ORDINANCE.pdf
At the council meeting, multiple questions of oversight and responsiblilty were asked of the city manager and the answers were vague in defining how the oversight will work. In short, there will need to be a number of details figured out in the coming months to learn how the city manager will reconcile his duties to the city while also following the charter rules for allowing the RHB to operate outside of the city practices. For example, he has authority to hire and discipline the employees of the city but it is unclear who has oversight on the manager of the department since the RHB is suppose to be the group in charge.
Multiple written comments pointed to the questions and challenges in making a new department that complies with the Measure H directives while working in conjunction with city rules and procedures.
https://ww2.cityofpasadena.net/2023%20Agendas/Dec_04_23/AR%2017%20SUPP%20CORR.pdf
The writers of Measure H directed the city to provide all help as if the Rental Housing Board (RHB) was a department but not to create a new department. Now the appointed members of the RHB are requesting a city department after meeting for less than 6 months. From an outsider perspective, the reasons are likely a combination of these factors:
The writers of Measure H (anonymous) wanted to create a group that is so independent from the city that the city council, mayor and city manager could not overrule the provisions of a new tax on property owners and rules that will make it harder to provide truly affordable housing in the city. The reality is that operating outside the existing government systems creates expensive overlaps and opportunities for spending money without fiduciary controls.
The RHB is made up of 13 Pasadena residents (11 members and 2 alternates) . Two members own a single family house in Pasadena and one member owns a duplex in Pasadena. That one landlord has one tenant so the knowledge of how to manage a registration system, billing system, enforcement system and communication system for landlords seems to be outside of the current skill set of the board. None appear to know about commercial loans, California state requirements on trust accounts, fair housing laws related to age discrimination or the myriad challenges of managing rental housing.
The desire of some members of the RHB to work for the city seems to be driving decisions on how to proceed with implementing Measure H. In a prior RHB meeting, Chairman Ryan Bell stated that he intended to apply for a position as a city employee of the proposed rental department.
The city council wanting to exercise some control over the employees (current estimates are 22 full time employees) that the RHB will hire in the coming years.
A recognition by most professionals that the way Measure H is written will cause major problems in the future as the fees and rules are imposed on the city.
Pasadena Department of Housing - https://www.cityofpasadena.net/housing/ Currently tasked with most housing related items in the city of Pasadena.
Pasadena Rental Housing Board website : https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/pasadena-rental-housing-board/ This is the appointed board that was created by Measure H voters in 2022.
