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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-03-2015 Items SubmittedPC 03.03.15 Pg. 4 VII. Communal Residence Submitted: Jeff Tate EXHIBIT A 18.04.031 Adult family home. "Adult family home" means a residential home in which a person or persons provide personal care, special care, room, and board to more than one but not more than six adults who are not related by blood or marriage to the person or persons providing the services. Adult Family Homes are not Communal Residences. 18.04;125 Assisted living facility "Assisted living facility" means a combination of housing, supportive services, personalized assistance, and health care designed to respond to the individual needs of those who need help with activities of daily living. An establishment with a central or private kitchen, dining, recreational, and other facilities, with separate bedrooms or living quarters, where the emphasis of the facility remains residential. An Assisted Living Facility is not a Communal Residence. 18.04.249 Communal residence. "Communal residence" means a dwelling, without an owner occupant, that is rented to a group of unrelated individuals. Adult Family Homes Foster Care Homes, Group Residence Facilities Special Needs Housing, and Supportive Housing are not Communal Residences. 18.04.390 Foster care home. "Foster care home" means a home which provides regular care for up to four developmentally disabled adults, or up to four adults who are recipients of state or federal financial assistance services, or up to four foster children under the age of 18, or up to three expectant mothers in a residential structure of the person or persons under whose direct care and supervision the people are placed. A Foster Care Home is not a Communal Residence. 18.04.440 Group residence facility. "Group residence facility" means a facility licensed by the state and operated with full -time supervision for housing resident persons who, by reasons of their mental or physical disability, addiction to drugs or alcohol, or family and social adjustment problems, require a transitional nonmedical treatment program for rehabilitation and social readjustment. For the purposes of this title, a nonmedical treatment program consists of counseling, vocational guidance, training, group therapy and other similar rehabilitative services but does not include drug and /or alcohol detoxification. Monitoring the taking of prescription medication shall be permitted. The use of medication by any resident shall be incidental to that person's residence in the facility and shall not be a criterion for residence in the facility. This definition does not include residential dwellings which meet all other requirements of this title, that provide programs related to this definition or which provide services of a nursing home as defined by ACC 18.04.660. A Group Residence Facility is not a Communal Residence. 18.04.660 Nursing home "Nursing home," "rest home," "convalescent home," "guest home' and "home for the aged" means a home operated similarly to a boardinghouse but not restricted to any number of guests or guest rooms, the operator of which is licensed by the state or county to give special care and cure to his or her charges, and in which nursing, dietary and other personal services are furnished to convalescents, invalids and aged persons, and in which homes are performed no surgery, maternity or any other primary treatments such as customarily provided in hospitals, and in which no persons are kept or served who normally would be admitted to a mental hospital or to a group residence facility. This definition does not include group residence facilities as defined in this title. A Nursing Home is not a Communal Residence. 18.04.794 Renting of rooms. 'Renting of rooms' means the provision of rooms for lodging purposes to not more than two persons in addition to the owner occupied unit, and /or family who lives in the residence. 18.04.835 Special needs housing. "Special needs housing" is housing that meets the definition of nursing home, group home, or other housing that meets the needs of special populations that need assistance or special accommodation in housing. See Chapter 18.49 ACC. Special Needs Housing is not a Communal Residence. 18.04.891 Supportive housing. "Supportive housing" means a multiple - family dwelling owned or sponsored by a nonprofit corporation or government entity, designed for occupancy by individual adults that are either (A) homeless or at risk of homelessness; (B) are experiencing a disability that presents barriers to employment and housing stability; or (C) generally require structured supportive services to be successful living in the community; is permitted at a greater unit density than otherwise allowed within a particular zone; and is intended to provide long -term, rather than transitional, housing. Long -term housing is approximately longer than two years, whereas transitional housing is no more than two years. Supportive Housing is not a Communal Residence. P = Permitted A = Administrative C = Conditional Use X = Not Permitted Land Uses Zoning Designations RC R -1 R -5 R -7 R -10 R -16 R -20 A. Residential Uses. Communal residence four or less unrelated individuals p p P P P P P .r-. F,,,. ,...i,t a E E E E E 18.31.130 Communal residence. A. Parking Requirements. There must be one off - street parking stall per renter. A landlord may reduce the off- street parking requirement if an affidavit is signed that a tenant does not own a vehicle. B. Solid Waste Management Requirements. 1. ACC 8.08.070 requires all occupied units to have minimum garbage service. The landlord is required to provide tenants with adequate garbage and recycle receptacles meeting the minimum garbage service level. 2. The landlord is responsible to provide each tenant with the solid waste collection schedule and that schedule is to be posted within the unit. C. An annual building inspection is required for a communal residence as part of the required rental housing business license. D. International Property Maintenance Code occupancy requirements are applicable to a communal residence regardless of the number of individuals living in the residence. E. The occupancy limit for a Communal Residence shall conform to the following: 1 No more than one occupant per approved bedroom is allowed provided that two adults who are bonded under a legal union that is recognized under State law, may occupy a single bedroom once it has been verified that the bedroom meets the minimum square footage requirements established in the International Property Maintenance Code The King County Assessor records will be used to determine the number of approved bedrooms provided that a city building permit that has been approved issued and inspected and that adds additional bedrooms may supplement the County records. 2 Within the R16 and R20 zones the occupancy limit for a Communal Residence shall comply with subsection 1 above and shall also not exceed the number of on site parking spaces that are exclusively dedicated to the residence Within apartment complexes condominium complexes and other high density housing layouts, shared community parking spaces may not be used when demonstrating satisfaction with this requirement unless the applicant can provide documentation that the owner or responsible Association has authorized exclusive use of the parking space. For example. if there are two on -site parking spaces there shall be no more than 2 occupants because single familiv residential communities are designed with a minimum parking requirement of 2 spaces per dwelling unit. 3. Under no circumstance are more than four occupants allowed. €F. Amortization Schedule. Existing communal residences have until December 31, 2013, to become compliant with the regulations outlined in this title and ACC Title 5 as it pertains to communal residences. PC 03.03.15 pg. 3 VII. Communal Residence Submitted: Jeff Tate Tina Kriss Subject: FW: Draft Communal House Codes From: Colin [mailto:ct1049(i5)aol.com] Sent: Monday, March 02, 2015 7:32 AM To: Jeff Tate Subject: Draft Communal House Codes Jeff: Your team did a good job addressing the nature of the differing neighborhoods dealing with the student room rental business and their impact on the families that live there, and it is appreciated. I was disappointed that you did not consider a pre - application process for new applications. You are taking the word of the business owner that they meet the safety standards, or alternately if they misrepresent their business, or later convert it to a communal house rental, there are no consequences. I believe it has been well documented by past problems that the owners of these business routinely avoid code compliance, advertise 'under the radar', and historically create problems for adjacent residents. "Trust but Verify" seems like a good up front policy and could be paid for by an initial site inspection fee to fund the costs. The above aside, I was confused by the shared housing definitions and how 18.04.249 defines these businesses that rent bedrooms by the month. 1 reviewed both the Federal language and our State codes with Auburn's proposed language for these monthly room renting businesses. The proposed definition of ACC 18.04.249 reads "that is rented to a group of unrelated individuals'. This is actually a basic HUD definition of a family, which is not what the student house bed or bedroom occupants are by either Federal or State definitions. In the HUD definition, below in this email, the 'family' would be on one lease of the home, not separate rental agreements between the owner and a student renter for a bedroom. If four unrelated adults rent a Dwelling (see ACC 18.04.330) together to live as a common household they are a HUD family. The definitions are below in this email. With respect to student renters, the person is In fact renting a bedroom, and these renters come and go from the property independently of each other's rental arrangements with the business owner. The HUD definition of family clearly states one person is also a'family' when renting a dwelling, like a motel room that meets the requirements listed below. The effect of the current language is to place restrictions upon a class of persons that are not your intended population. I have also made use of the term Dwelling in the above discussion, because there appears to be conflict in our State's codes relative to what is a Dwelling versus Auburn's use of the term. I have provided Title 59 RCW Landlord and Tenant Definitions in this email for your easy reference. The issue here is that a separate lease or rental agreement exists between the student renter and the business owner landlord for a dwelling (their room). The State's code is designed to recognize a motel type room as a dwelling, but clearly specifies conditions that entitle the room to a status as a dwelling, based on egress and basic standalone elements of a "dwelling" as defined in said definition. Clearly, if a person, or persons were to rent a single family residence, they are able under Federal and State statutes to then sublease a room or rooms within the context of the applicable codes. This is not what occurs with the student house rental businesses on Lea Hill. I believe you need to describe the rent a room business in a more precise manner to avoid being in violation of both Federal and State codes. The above concerns are being raised under ACC 1.02.010 and ACC 1.04.60 1 apologize for the presentation format, but I am at the coast without a printer and pulling this together, from the various sources, without a scanning device has required a lot of word process gymnastics. I will not have much free time between now and the March 17`h hearing, so I wanted to bring these concerns up as soon as possible, so that your team might have time to research, and consider possible tweaks to the City Codes. Thanks Colin Sections: 1.02.010 Duty of enforcement. 1.02.020 General severability applicable to city code, ordinances and regulations. 1.02.010 Duty of enforcement � ,.._. It is the intent of the city council that any duty of enforcement of any codes, ordinances or regulations of the city, or any part thereof, is owed to the public at large and not to any individual members of the public. The city council, further, intends to make no assurances or promises of protection thereby or enforcement thereof to any individual, and that no special relationship regarding enforcement of any code ordinance or regulation shall exist with any individual which would set such individual apart from the general public. This provision applies to all prior codes, ordinances or regulations by ratification and to all subsequent codes, ordinances or regulations regardless of whether a separate duty of enforcement clause is included therein. (Ord. 5655 § 1, 2002.) Chapter 1.04 GENERAL PROVISIONS 1.04.010 Definitions r �] A. The following words and phrases, whenever used in the ordinances of the city of Auburn, Washington, shall be construed as defined in this section unless from the context a different meaning is intended or unless a different meaning is specially defined and more particularly directed to the use of such words or phrases. 20. "Tenant" and "occupant," applied to a building or land, include any person who occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, whether alone or with others. 1.04.060 Conflict of ordinances with state or federal law. A. All ordinances and city code provisions, and regulations therein, shall not be in conflict with all other regulations and /or requirements of state and federal law, insofar as not permitting or allowing any action, use or conduct which is in violation of or prohibited by any state or federal laws, regulations or codes. Any such Title 59 RCW LANDLORD AND TENANT Definitions RCW 59.18.030 (5) "Dwelling unit" is a structure or that part of a structure which is used as a home, residence, or sleeping place by one person or by two or more persons maintaining a common household, including but not limited to single - family residences and units of multiplexes, apartment buildings, and mobile homes. (9) "Landlord" means the owner, lessor, or sublessor of the dwelling unit or the property of which it is a part, and in addition means any person designated as representative of the owner, lessor, or sublessor including, but not limited to, an agent, a resident manager, or a designated property manager. (20) A "single- family residence" is a structure maintained and used as a single dwelling unit. Notwithstanding that a dwelling unit shares one or more walls with another dwelling unit, it shall be deemed a single - family residence if it has direct access to a street and shares neither heating facilities nor hot water equipment nor any other essential facility or service with any other dwelling unit. Electronic Code of Federal Regulations e -CFR Data is current as of February 26, 2015 "Title 24 Subtitle B —> Chapter I — Subchapter A — Part 100 Browse Previous I Browse Next Title 24: Housing and Urban Development This final rule is pending publication in the Federal Register. The published version will establish the effective date of this rule. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT 24 CFR Parts 5, 200, 203, 236, 400, 570, 574, 882, 891, and 982 [Docket No. FR 5359 -F -02] RIN 2501 -AD49 Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs — Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity Comment: A commenter asked whether a family can be one individual. Response: Yes, in accordance with section 3(b)(3)(A) of the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, HUD's longstanding definition of "family" has always included a single person. Comment: A commenter stated that the term "family" as provided in 24 CFR 5.403 of the proposed rule fails to give a "definite meaning to family" and leaves the door open for program abuse by allowing any group that wants to live together to call itself a family. 12 Another commenter stated that the proposed regulation, with its expansion of the term "family," could potentially allow any combination of persons to qualify as a family without the requirement of a legally recognized relationship. Another commenter stated that the term "family" as proposed in the January 2011 rule will make it impossible for the PHA to determine the family composition, the family income, or who is on the lease, as families could change on a weekly basis. The commenter submitted that the proposed change will take away the security and stability of the family, as well as the PHA's power to determine if a tenant is suitable or whether the tenant's behavior would have an adverse effect on other residents. Response: As discussed in this rulemaking, in both the proposed and final rules, "family" in HUD programs had broad meaning long before these regulatory amendments. By way of this rule, HUD is merely affirming that an eligible family may not be excluded because of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. This rule's clarification of the term "family" has no impact on other program eligibility requirements, such as income qualification, annual certification or the requirement that all family members are named on the household lease. The rule in no way precludes a PHA from consistently applying its otherwise lawful policies to a family consisting of LGBT members, just as it would a family with no LGBT members. HUD Definition of Family. For the convenience of the reader and the discussion to follow, the term "family" proposed to be included in 24 CFR 5.403 is restated below: Family includes, but is not limited to, regardless of marital status, actual or perceived sexual orientation, or gender identity, the following: (1) A single person, who may be an elderly person, displaced person, disabled person, near - elderly person, or any other single person; or (2) A group of persons residing together, and such group includes, but is not limited to (a) A family with or without children (a child who is temporarily away from the home because of placement in foster care is considered member of the family); (b) An elderly family; (c) A near - elderly family, (d) A disabled family, (e) A displaced family; and (f) The remaining member of a tenant family.