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September 2023 Housing Quality Task Force report

Download the September 2023 HQTF Progress Report Flier

Code Enforcement 

  • Minimal vacancies (3) remain on the Code Enforcement team, and management is actively hiring.
  • The City’s Buildings & Compliance and Neighborhood Service Center teams have combined efforts to hire and
  • train part-time Code Enforcement Inspectors (4) in each quadrant to 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 (www.cityofrochester.gov/civicsportal) 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 per property.

    • Submitting work schedules for open Code Enforcement cases. 

      New and Updated Code Enforcement Policies 

  • Streamlined Fines 
  • 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 
  • Vacant Building Registry: 
    • All buildings vacant for more than 60 days will be required to register with the City’s Vacant Building Registry starting on January 1, 2024. 
  • LLC Disclosure: 
    • LLCs will be required to disclose names and businesses of all members, managers, and any other authorized persons when submitting to the Property Management Portal.
  • Landlord-Tenant Bill of Rights: 
    • The City-drafted document, which will be 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.

Code Enforcement Cases Taken to Court

  • Number of Cases Handled: 27 
  • Total Number of Properties Involved: 63 
  • Total Number of Units: 384 
  • Total Number of Violations at Start: 2,673 
  • Violations Abated in Court: 1,326 
  • Total Fines Awarded: $146,555 
  • Number of Repair Orders Granted: 27 
  • Number of Illegal Evictions Reversed: 3

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. Visit this page for more information.

The City hosted a free Landlord Summit, which over 400 property owners and managers attended and: 

  • Learned from a series of presentations about new and updated code enforcement policies and technologies created to streamline and make more transparent interactions with the City as well as provide connections to local resources for everything from property rehab to climate-friendly homes. 
  • Had access to a resource fair featuring City and local organizations offering information and opportunities catered to attendees. 
  • Received help from City staff at a computer lab where property owners created accounts and updated information in the City’s new Property Management Portal. 

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.

Repair and Improvement 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 6 Buy the Block homes on Thomas and Weeger Streets are now occupied. 
    • Construction of the next 10 is underway. Purchase offers are being signed for those now. An additional eight are planned to begin construction by the end of 2023. 
  • Discussions are in the works with development partners for additional project phases. 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. 
    • Invest additional ARPA dollars to acquire more Land Bank properties that our partner developers commit to rehab.

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