year to be used for comparison for measuring whether an increase should be granted
and also whether some of the individual line items within the worksheet were
accurate or representative. In my estimation, 2019 is the base year that's been used
for all other cases except for very limited circumstances where we may have an
owner who does not, have access to 2019 numbers. They may have acquired the
building. There may have been a death. Otherwise, everyone is using 2019.
Secondly, given that the large share of the increase is justified just under the CPI and
the property tax increases, auditing much smaller line items does not seem
mathematically justifiable in my estimation.
Councilmember Noecker: So just to make sure I'm clear, it sounds like there was a
rent increase of 8% applied for. We determined that was allowable. The appeal now
is of that decision to allow that rent increase. Alright, that was a staff report on all 4
items. We can open the public hearing.
Jamele Watkins: For corporate entities, finance enthusiasts, and people who are very
economically secure, it's very easy to talk about the cost of living like it's weather,
completely out of our control and the results of million little interlocking factors. For
renters, especially cost-burdened renters, that's not what it's like at all. When you
rent, it's the single biggest monthly expense that you have to deal with, and that can
change with little to no warning or justification, and based off of the decision of a
single person or business. So using what we could do with our rights as citizens and
tenants, we asked our landlord to justify why they needed to raise the rent to 8%. The
justification, while accurate and admissible within the processes created by the city,
were not impressive or compelling to us as renters. Property taxes hadn't been
vigorously itemized, and again, we were talking about the base here, which you had
earlier mentioned arguing for base year of 2020 instead of 2019, pre pandemic
versus post pandemic. Administrative expenses that also did not result in increased
quality of living or noticeable efficiencies in the budget and a high rate of inflation that
we as working families are far less equipped to bear the brunt than shareholders. So
to anyone tempted to believe that 8% isn't a lot. Let's think about it a little bit. Let's do
some math. So 8x12 eight percent of 1 months rent times 12 is 96% of 1 months
rent, or approximately 1 extra month's worth of rent over the course of a year. The
year after an 8% increase, you will pay your current year's rent, but 13 times instead
of 12, while getting the same number of paychecks. Well, it may seem like a small
number in the grand scheme of things. I'll break this down for you. I'm actually paying
for my 2 bedroom apartment at $1750, but I will be paying $2000. I will end up paying
$2000 monthly before utilities and that will include the rent, the $100 a month for
parking, $75.00 for pet insurance, and another $75.00 for storage unit. I need the
storage unit and the garage because I have a toddler who has a lot of accessories.
What I'm saying is that these aren't hypothetical numbers for me here. I wonder if you
all could manage an 8% increase in your mortgage or in your rent. This isn't a game
to me, but I feel like I'm being played. 8% this year is burdensome and 8% again next
year is untenable. When we spoke with our neighbors around the building to tell them
about the opportunity we would have today to address the City Council, many
families we encountered had already resigned themselves to having to move, and
we've seen a lot of our neighbors move out of the building. They knew that they might
be able to find cheaper rent in town for one year, but knew that if their landlord had
also self certified for 8% at the end of a new lease term, they may very well be back
on the market again and having to move in 12 months. In fact, when I tried asking for
a 12 month lease back in May because my lease was coming up, Victoria told me
that they wanted to wait for the City Council decision on whether or not I could renew
for a 12 month lease. I did try to protect myself but was not able to. This also does
not take into account the rising prices of groceries. Daycare also went up for me.
Health insurance, also went up. Unlike other expenses that we have from year to
year, you can't simply cut back on housing. You have to pay or move, and interest
rates to buy a house or a condo are so unbearably high right now that buying isn't an
option for me either. Moving of course, involves its own monetary costs, but other
costs can't be quantified. Being further from work, family and community resources
