January 2024 Housing Quality Task Force report
Code Enforcement
- Minimal vacancies remain on the Code Enforcement team, and management is actively hiring to fill remaining open positions.
- The City’s Buildings & Compliance and Neighborhood Service Center teams have combined efforts and have in place two part-time Code Enforcement Inspectors with a total of four inspectors; one in each quadrant will be hired. The inspectors will enforce the City of Rochester Property Code and the New York State Property Maintenance Code along major arteries.
- The City’s new Property Management Portal offers a suite of self-service functions to help property owners and managers better oversee and maintain their housing portfolios and address code violations. Current features include:
- Designating and updating building owner and property manager contact information.
- Viewing lists of all open code violations by property.
- Submitting work schedules for open Code Enforcement cases.
- Apply for plumbing and electrical permit
New and Updated Code Enforcement Policies
- Landlord-Tenant Bill of Rights: The City-drafted document, which is now mailed each year to both tenants and rental property owners, promotes the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. It is meant for informational purposes only and does not create any new rights or restrictions.
- Shorter Abatement Time Frames: “[T]he time within which a person or entity served with an order to remedy is required to comply with such order to remedy is hereby fixed at 30 days following the date of such order to remedy” - New York Codes, Rules, and Regulations § 1203.5
- Owners of vacant buildings have until January 31 to complete the new Civics Vacant Building Registry application before they become eligible for a code
violation. Visit www.cityofrochester.gov/VBR for more information. - LLC property owners have until January 31 to complete the new LLC disclosure within the Civics Building Owner’s Registry application before they become eligible for a code violation. Visit www.cityofrochester.gov/bor for more information.
Code Enforcement Cases Taken to Court
- Number of Cases Handled to Date: 36
- Total Number of Properties Involved: 89
- Total Number of Units: 505
- Total Number of Violations: 3,750
- Total Fines Awarded: $531,182
Facilitating Responsible Ownership
A Property Code Compliance Score is available to provide an objective and transparent scoring system that will drive improvements in code compliance, target enforcement efforts, and provide tenants better insight when making decisions on who to rent from.
Repair and Improvement Programs
- The Emergency Hazard Abatement Program, through which the City hires contractors and bills the landlord if the landlord fails to correct immediate hazards, will continue to be funded until repayments by delinquent landlords reach the annual allocation amount.
- The City will continue to fund repair and improvement grants and loans to owner-occupants and high-scoring landlords in low-income areas.
- The RENEW program, a local backbone model that integrates across multiple housing agencies, services, and funding streams to provide “whole-house” rehab, has been taking applications and developing a pipeline for its rental property repair program.
Increase Supply of Quality Housing
The Buy The Block program supports new homeowners by subsidizing the cost of new high-quality, affordable, owner-occupied houses, in which homeowners spend no more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
- The first cluster of 13 Buy the Block homes on Thomas and Weeger Streets are now occupied. Construction of the next 6 is underway.
- Over 30 additional homes are planned to begin construction by the end of 2024 in the SW quadrant of the city further enhancing development planned in the Bull’s Head area.
Increase the scale and effectiveness of the Rochester Land Bank.
- Maximize the number of tax-delinquent properties transferred to responsible owners by expanding the Land Bank’s pre-qualified developer partner network.
- Strategic plan to be completed in 2024 to build on the success of its first 10 years.