How is the Rental Housing Board Budget formed and paid for
Short answer - As of December 20, 2023, the Pasadena Rental Housing Board and their consultants named BHYV are proposing an annual fee of $213 per year per unit. This is the proposed amount and will be voted on 12/20/2023 (see page 8 of this document)
Original (11/2023) - Estimates from the Pasadena City Attorney in 2022 were for each rental property owner in Pasadena to pay $174.14 per year per unit. As of November 15, 2023, the PRHB has not created a budget but has spent $340,697
Edit (12/2023) - The Rental Housing Board is requesting another $500,000 advance from the city of Pasadena and voting on this request December 6, 2023. The meeting agenda is at this link https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2023-12-6-PRHB-Agenda-Packet.pdf?v=1701889852900
The Measure H Charter amendment passed in November 2022 in Pasadena has a very unique funding system. In short, the writers of the measure wanted to tell voters that the only people who will pay for the costs and fees associated with the program and all expenses would be landlords in Pasadena who rent out homes. The writers of the amendment created a separate board that is not subject to the city rules on spending, bid rules for contracting and any oversight from the city council, mayor or city manager.
After seating as a board in May 2023, the group of 11 plus 2 alternates began the process of creating a brand new system for registering rentals, implementing a series of rules in Measure H and determining allowed rent increases and interest rates for security deposits.
Most of the board (10 of 13) are tenants and only one of the board members (Lourdes Gonzalez) owns a duplex property with one tenant.
https://www.coloradoboulevard.net/meet-pasadenas-rental-board-appointees/
In early May 2023, the city of Pasadena fronted $500,000 in operating expenses for the PRHB to use for start up costs. Prior to the election, the City Attorney of Pasadena, Michele Beal Bagneris wrote an analysis that estimated start up costs for the board of $310,000 and an annual budget of $5,453,460 based on 26 employees needed to support the boards activities.
In December 2023, the board is requesting an additional $500,000 in funding from the city while also approving almost $270,000 in spending. With prior commitments, the board has authorized spending all of the funding requested from the city already.
This is the link to that 2 page analysis:
News story at the time with more details.
Using this estimated annual cost and a total of 31,316 rental units in Pasadena in the bhyv consulting analysis from November 15, 2023, the annual cost per rental is $174.14.
As of November 15, 2023, no public estimates of expenses were shared with the public but at the PRHB meeting that evening, a one page, undated spreadsheet was provided to the public. That image is scanned below along with screen images from the presentation that includes the number of rental units that the PRHB believes will be charged annually.
For December 2023, the RHB has a proposal to spend $5,914,056 in 2024 and is requesting an annual tax of $213 per rental unit in the city to pay for the new program.
Info graphic provided by bhyv consulting at the November 15, 2023 meeting of the PRHB
Expense spreadsheet provided at the PRHB meeting on November 15, 2023
Current approved spending is over $750,000 and there is a new request for funding that will bring the numbers over $1,000,000 in December 2023.
