DATE: STAFF:
July 13, 2021
JC Ward, Senior Planner
Emily Olivo, Neighborhood Liaison
WORK SESSION ITEM
City Council
SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION
Mobile Home Park Enforcement Program. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Mobile Home Park (“MHP”) Residents’ Rights Team is currently developing a comprehensive enforcement program for mobile home parks to improve livability in parks across Fort Collins, improve the City’s relationship with MHP managers and owners, and increase manager and owner accountability.
An education program with community clean-up days leading up to regular proactive Code Compliance patrols would be implemented over the next three years, with a concentrated engagement effort in 2021 and 2022 that would enable staff to learn the full scope of the work, build relationships with residents and management, and support MHP’s compliancy prior to any official inspection. In 2021, we have already begun this engagement effort with senior (55+) MHP’s and have two grant-funded, volunteer-based clean up and resource fair events planned in each senior MHP this fall. Other engagement techniques planned include mock inspections and neighborhood walks with code enforcement staff to answer questions and prepare managers.
The final MHP enforcement program is anticipated to include regular proactive patrols and investigation of complaints, an annual inspection, annual park registration, and annual MHP property manager certification. Priority enforcement focus areas will be periodically reviewed and updated to ensure emerging and important issues are addressed.
GENERAL DIRECTION SOUGHT AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED
What feedback do Councilmembers have about the mobile home park enforcement options and timeline? BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION
STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
Community & Neighborhood Livability:
• 1.5 Enhance the quality of life in neighborhoods, empower neighbors to solve problems, and foster respectful relations.
• 1.8 Preserve and enhance manufactured housing communities as a source of affordable housing and create a safe and equitable environment for residents.
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Economic Health:
• 3.5 Invest in and maintain utility infrastructure and services while ensuring predictable utility rates. High Performing Government:
• 7.2 Maintain the public trust through a high performing board, as well as organizational transparency, legal and ethical behavior and regulatory compliance.
• 7.3 Improve effectiveness of community engagement with enhanced inclusion of all identities, languages and needs.
HOUSING STRATEGIC PLAN
• Strategy 2: Promote inclusivity, housing diversity, and affordability as community values.
• Strategy 20: Explore the option of a mandated rental license/ registry program for long-term rentals and pair with best practice rental regulations
• Strategy 23: Allow tenants right of first offer/refusal for cooperative ownership of multifamily or manufactured housing community
• Strategy 24: Support community organizing efforts in manufactured home communities and increase access to resident rights information, housing resources, and housing programs
DISCUSSION
Council identified mobile home park preservation and resident protections as Council priority issues in 2019 and has provided staff with guidance on programs and initiatives to improve mobile home park livability and viability as a housing option in Fort Collins. In August 2019, Council instituted a one-year moratorium on the City’s acceptance of any development application which would result in the closure or loss of housing units within existing mobile home parks. This moratorium was extended through December 2020 due to delays in public engagement activities caused by COVID-19. The moratorium on redevelopment was intended to protect residents from displacement while staff developed options for long-term preservation of mobile home parks as “naturally-occurring” affordable housing.
In December 2019, staff provided an update at a work session that a new zoning district for manufactured housing communities is one of the strongest local tools available to preserve existing manufactured housing communities/mobile home parks and introduced a number of new residents’ rights and livability strategies planned for implementation between 2020-2022.
The cross-departmental MHP Residents’ Rights Team, established in September 2019 to support Council priorities around mobile home park livability, continues to meet monthly to implement projects that improve transparency and accessibility of resources, encourage collaboration among City departments working in the mobile home park and affordable housing spaces, provide a support network for residents, and develop or enhance enforcement mechanisms.
At work sessions on July 9, 2019; December 10, 2019; and April 28, 2020, staff received guidance from councilmembers to pursue specific strategies to improve livability and address issues identified by the community, property managers, and mobile home park owners. At the December 10th and April 28th meetings, staff received Council direction to explore a licensing and/or enforcement program for coordinated response and abatement of issues in ways consistent with enforcement in other neighborhood types across the city that is also mindful of some of the special conditions in mobile home parks that do not exist in other neighborhood types.
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home park” (“MHP”) in accordance with the State of Colorado’s preferred language in the Mobile Home Park Oversight Act and Updates and Mobile Home Park Oversight Dispute Resolution Program. Throughout these AIS materials, the term “mobile home park” will be used.Mobile Home Park Livability Projects
Through public engagement work with MHP residents, property managers, MHP owners, industry associations, internal stakeholders, and staff from other Colorado cities with robust MHP programs; the Residents’ Rights Team identified the strategies in the table below as reasonably calculated to address issues and enhance livability in local mobile home parks. (Attachment 1)
Completed In Progress/ Underway Long Term / Resources Req.
MHP Webpage Neighborhood Liaisons (highest need parks) Enforcement of Municipal Code (Section 18) & State Legislation (Limited, Need-Based)
MHP Mini-Grants LHIP & Emergency Grants Housing Unit Single Metering (water)
Maintenance
Responsibilities Code Changes
Partner/Contractor Projects CARE; LCCC Negotiated investments
Section 18 Residents’ Rights Updates
MHP Handbook* Liaisons (all parks)
Limitation of Required Upgrades
Utility/Water Services Billing Transparency ROC support (shifted from notice of sale/opp to purchase work)
Local Complaint System
Education & Outreach to Support Enforcement
MHP Licensing*
*Project on hold temporarily to align timing and consistency with other ongoing efforts
Ongoing Engagement
Since August 2019 MHP Residents’ Rights Team has been conducting community engagement with residents, managers, and owners of MHP’s within the City and Growth Management Area (“GMA”) to better understand needs and priorities, more effectively respond to complaints and inquiries, gather input on potential long-term solutions, and to empower all with knowledge and tools.
• Residents’ Associations Modeled after the Neighborhood Connections program, Staff are supporting the development of Residents’ Associations (RA’s) in MHP’s including Skyline MHP, North College MHP, and Hickory Village. Once established, RA’s have support but not guidance or input from the city and are entirely run by residents. RA’s improve outcomes for residents and managers by streamlining and strengthening communication, organizing projects and initiatives, and enhancing the sense of community within a park. • Relationship Building- Through neighborhood meetings, individual phone calls/emails/meetings, responding
swiftly to resident concerns and requests for resources, as well as other engagement with managers and residents, city staff have been establishing and building relationships that will be crucial to the success of this and other MHP programs.
• MHP Clean-ups and Repair Days- Neighborhood Services was recently awarded a grant to fund two kick off events for this enforcement program. In October we will host a clean-up, repair, and resource event at the senior MHP’s, jumpstarting the path to voluntary compliance while providing education and community resources.
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Need for Local MHP Enforcement Program
1. State Mobile Home Park Oversight & Dispute Resolution Program (“MHPOP”) is not meeting the current need or urgency for Fort Collins MHP residents
A. The Colorado MHPOP was implemented in May 2020 but not fully staffed until December 2020 causing a backlog of investigations into complaints which are averaging months (several Fort Collins cases filed in August 2020 have not been investigated until May 2021 or are still open).
B. Renters and other non-homeowner residents cannot file complaints with the MHPOP.
2. Gaps exist in state laws related to flat-rate water billing or inclusion of water utility costs in lot rent, protections for renters, and protection of anonymity for residents filing complaints.
3. Section 18 of City Municipal Code relating to mobile home parks has limited enforcement mechanisms. 4. Current compliance programs do not cover full scope of mobile home park issues.
A. Coordination of inspections and enforcement is distributed across City departments.
B. Complaint-based enforcement in MHP’s is taking place through several departments, but there is no formal process for reporting, collaboration, or tracking of the reports and enforcement in MHP’s.
5. Water infrastructure beyond the master meter is owned and maintained by mobile home parks is aging and can result in clogged/compromised sewer systems and decreased potable water quality due to maintenance issues. There is limited authority for the City to inspect the system or ability to provide financial support to property owners to help address these issues.
6. Mobile Home Park residents do not receive bills directly from the water service provider but are rebilled by property owners/managers. This rebilling system limits auditing by utility providers or confirmation of charges by residents because of limitations on customer information or usage data disclosure to non-customers, including residents.
A. Reports of high water bills that vary for a unit; retaliation through water rebilling; inconsistent calculations of monthly water charges; and failure to disclose the MHP’s monthly water bill, amount paid, or formula/rates used to calculate each unit’s share of the water cost required under state law are complex to investigate without resident or non-Utilities City Staff access to certain customer data.
B. Because mobile home park residents are not the direct Fort Collins Utilities or other water district customer, they are ineligible for income-qualified assistance programs for water and wastewater rates.
ENFORCEMENT PROGRAM FOCUS AREAS 1. Local Park Registration
• Each year, owners of city MHP’s would be required to register (or update their registration) with Neighborhood Services. The timing of this registration would align with the state registration deadline, and there would be no-cost.
• Park owners would meet with City Staff and provide/confirm park details, contact information, and review MHP policy changes.
• Considerations:
- The Housing Strategic Plan calls for the exploration of a mandated rental license/ registry program for long-term rentals, in line with best practice rental regulations. The staff recommendation for a MHP registration program is to align implementation timelines with those of the Housing Rental Licensing Strategy Team, ensuring consistency and efficacy.
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2. Manager Certification
• This component would require property managers to: certify or re-certify annually with the City by acknowledging they have read the MHP Handbook (and updates), meet with members of the MHP Residents’ Rights Team at least once per year, and complete at least one City continuing education activity per year.
• Continuing education opportunities would be offered in a variety of formats to be adaptive to emerging community needs while remaining accessible for all managers. Topics could include:
1. MHP 101 course on Repairs, fire code, ADA code, tree health/maintenance, environmental/sustainability initiatives, air quality; Utilities 101 on billing, repairs, legislation, conservation, xeriscaping, and stormwater
2. Interpersonal - cultural sensitivity, equity, mediation, working with senior citizens
3. Legal - Know Your Rights, legislation overviews, eviction, Fair Housing Act, Occupancy restrictions 4. City programs - Sustainable Neighborhoods, Neighborhood Night Out, Our Climate Future, FC Moves,
Mini Grants, Block Parties, Healthy Homes, CityWorks, Planning Academy, City-convened collaborative meetings with other MHP managers
• Certification would be required for all managers in year one of implementation, all newly hired managers, and all managers who have failed to certify or lost certification. Re-certification would be required annually for all managers who certified the previous year.
• Considerations:
- Under state law (Colorado Revised Statutes 12-10-101 & 12-10-201), property managers are required to hold a real estate broker's license and complete 24 hours of continuing education every 3 years. However, on-site, live-in managers (like those at most mobile home parks) are an exception to this requirement. This proposed certification program would fill that gap with locally relevant, MHP-specific education opportunities for managers. A low hour requirement and lack of fees would ensure that property management remains accessible and attainable.
- Resources required will be increased city staff time to process the registrations and develop/administer the education programs, as well as the development of penalty structures for non-compliance.
3. Comprehensive Annual Inspection
• Annual inspection could address typical building or site issues inspected through other City programs and those not generally addressed through proactive enforcement or those that could require expertise from City subject matter experts. Examples include inspection, assessment, and/or documentation of plumbing, electrical, tree health and safety impacts, utility infrastructure, street issues, signage, and site/lot grading.
• The City would not have necessary allocated resources to begin annual inspections until year 3 of the enforcement program implementation at the earliest. We would begin prior to year 3 with mock inspections, mini-grants, and other resources provided to parks in order to support them in compliance and reduce the risk that the costs of repairs would be passed onto residents.
• Considerations:
- This component may require significant upgrades to parks to be made, which may result in rental increases for residents.
- City Staff could assist parks and/or residents in applying for grants and could provide our own mini-grant funds to help offset the costs.
- Annual inspections would require the development of a penalty structure for non-compliance and increased staff time from multiple departments to develop and/or conduct the inspections.
4. Proactive Enforcement
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• The most common issues found in MHP’s, as identified by code staff, are inoperable vehicles, outdoorstorage, and rubbish. • Considerations:
- Proactive enforcement, along with the annual inspection, would remove the pressure that is currently on residents to report issues and would, over time, help prevent these issues from occurring, increasing safety and livability for MHP’s across the city.
- Citations issued to residents could be a financial strain, and citations issued to parks may result in those costs being passed onto residents. However, a long-term roll out of this component paired with education and funding opportunities would create higher levels of voluntary compliance and reduce potential citations prior to official implementation.
- Proactive enforcement would require increased staff time from our Code Compliance Inspectors to meet the addition of 9 neighborhoods. It would also require the development of a penalty structure for non-compliance.
5. Education, Engagement, and Support
• Education, engagement with residents/owners/managers, and financial support plans include:
- “Meet your code enforcement officer” neighborhood walks: These walks, conducted for both managers and residents, will build a relationship and familiarity between code staff and MHP’s while providing education on potential violations without a threat of penalties. These walks will begin in Fall 2021 and continue until enforcement begins in 2023.
- Neighborhood clean-up and repair days: These volunteer-led events will focus on removing outdoor rubbish & household hazardous waste, repairing dilapidated fences, removing weeds & overgrown vegetation, and performing minor exterior repairs; proactively eliminating potential code violations. These programs will begin in Fall 2021 with a grant-funded event for each of the 55+ MHP’s, Skyline and North College.
- Mock inspections: Mock Inspections will educate park managers and owners on what to expect from their annual inspection, available resources for addressing problem areas, and who they have as “point-person" staff for their questions and concerns. Similar to the neighborhood walks, these mock inspections will support voluntary compliance without a threat of penalties, though official complaints received by the city may still be subject to enforcement. Mock inspections would begin early 2022.
- MHP Handbook: This handbook is expected to be completed in Fall 2021 and distributed to residents, managers, and owners. The handbook will provide information on MHP laws, maintenance, utilities, community and city resources, and the enforcement program. Development of this handbook has been occurring since 2020 but has been delayed due to changes in legislation, utilities processes, and the development of this enforcement program. Additionally, due to the increased level of collaboration across city departments to address MHP issues, certain matters have come under the scope of different work areas. For example, lot grading complaints were previously directed to Stormwater. They are also under the purview of Building Inspection, which has different processes and enforcement capabilities. As this collective work evolves, we continue to update the plans for the handbook.
• Considerations:
- Education, engagement, and resource support will be critical to the success of this enforcement program. By heavily focusing on supporting parks into compliance prior to conducting inspections and enforcement, we will see greater, more consistent outcomes in livability and will prevent associated costs of park repairs and improvements from being passed onto residents or from being too costly for park owners and managers.
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6. Code Changes to Address Water Services Rebilling Issues
• As part of the Enforcement Program, the MHP Residents’ Rights Team has identified potential solutions to some concerns related to water services that require further research, analysis, cost assessment, and discussions/agreements with water service providers. Several currently being explored would require Municipal Code changes that might come before City Council in the future, including:
- Notice of leaks or continuous water consumption in mobile home parks to residents to encourage water conservation and decrease water costs to residents and MHP owners
- Prohibiting “flat rate” water charges or inclusion of water charges in lot rent to provide residents with a monthly line item and water charges allocated
- Requiring Fort Collins Utilities formula or submetering to assure consistent distribution of water charges throughout the MHP or to assess actual water usage per household via submetering
- Authorizing disclosure of MHP water bills (or portions) to the public, residents, or non-Utilities City Staff to allow greater resident control over confirming accurate water charges
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Year One (2021- 2022)
• Individual and group meetings with park managers, owners, and residents (Ongoing) • Respond to complaints (Ongoing)
• Park clean-up & repair days for senior parks (Q4)
• Mock inspections and Neighborhood Walks (Q4 - Year 2 Q4) • Complete and distribute MHP Handbook (Q4)
• Begin Needs Assessment (Q4 - Year 2 Q4) Year Two (2022-2023)
• Manager Certification
o Develop education components and conduct outreach (Q1-2) o Implement, with completion deadline by Q1 of following year (Q3-4) • Clean-up & repair days for all parks (Q1-4)
• Provide MHP mini-grants (Q2 on) • Update Handbook (as needed) Year Three (2023)
• Annual inspections (Q2 on) • Proactive enforcement (Q2 on) Resources Needed
Resource Description Estimated Amount & Program
Year Needed Staffing O Increased Code &/or Inspection Staff for 9
MHP neighborhoods o Increased Program Staff for certification & registration o Increased Administrative Staff for complaint intake
o $50,000 in 2022 for needs assessment & community clean-up supplies (BFO offer already
submitted) o TBD in 2023/24 (based on needs assessment) o TBD ongoing 2025 forward (based on program evaluations &
community need) MHP Neighborhood Improvement & Community Building Grant Fund
o Temporary fund for MHP residents, property managers, & owners to assist with mitigation of existing Code violations in advance of proactive Code Enforcement o Community enhancement & renewal fund for safety lighting, bike path connectivity, increased public transportation options, community gathering space,…*
o $200,000 in 2023/24 ($100,000 per calendar year)
Code Updates & Penalty
Structures
o Additional updates to applicable City Code are anticipated to address the following topics already identified as ongoing issues and currently under discussion among City departments: o Water Services Rebilling & Transparency - possible options could include: eliminating flat rate billing and inclusion in lot rent; requiring individual water submetering on each housing unit or use of a specific formula; water leak notifications disclosed to residents o Street Maintenance Standards o MHP Manager Certification Requirements o Disclosure of Documentation & Information - average lot rents, current park rules, contact
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information of owners and property managers,and infrastructure maintenance o Annual Inspections o Alignment of penalty
structures with existing inspection, enforcement, and certification penalties with consideration of the special circumstances in MHP’s
*This grant fund would model best practices and incorporate lessons learned from the 2017-2018 Vibrant Neighborhoods Grant Fund for neighborhood-led projects throughout the city and the 2015-2016 Renewal of Neighborhoods in a State of Change funds supporting reinvestment to older neighborhoods.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Mobile Home Park Residents' Rights Team Completed and Ongoing Projects (PDF) 2. Mobile Home Park Water Services Background Information (PDF)
