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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSubmittal-Memo-Office of Community and Economic DevelopmentCITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM Submitted into the public record for item(s) on 10 23. 14 . City Clerk TO: Daniel J. Alfonso City Manager FROM: George Mensah Director DATE: October 20, 2014 SUBJECT: October 23`d Commission Ordinance FR 1 Background The Proposed Ordinance: On October 23`d, 2014, the City of Miami Commission is scheduled to hear the item FR1 sponsored by District 3 Commissioner with the title: "AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 2/ARTICLE IV/DIVISION 9 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, ENTITLED "ADMINISTRATION/DEPARTMENTS/COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT," MORE PARTICULARLY BY AMENDING SECTION 2-413 ENTITLED "FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT" TO PROVIDE THAT FIRST NOTICE BE GIVEN TO RESIDENTS OF THE CITY OF MIAMI ("CITY") AND TO CITY ELECTED AND APPOINTED OFFICIALS BY DEVELOPERS RECEIVING AFFORDABLE HOUSING OR WORKFORCE HOUSING INCENTIVES OF THE AVAILABILITY OF AFFORDABLE UNITS IN ORDER TO INFORM ALL OF THE AVAILABILITY OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING; SETTING FORTH CRITERIA; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. The legislative intent of the ordinance, as stated in the legislation, is to advise residents of the City as to the availability of affordable housing units made possible by various city grants and incentives. The ordinance requires qualified developers of projects to provide "first notice on initial lease outs, sales, conveyances or similar dispositions to residents of the city at least 60 days prior to the commencement of the leasing/or sales process. Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Regulations The City of Miami, by virtue of the annual receipt of federal funds, certifies to HUD annually that it is "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing". Basically, that the City is doing everything it can to ensure "Fair Housing Choice" to all residents of the City. As a requirement under the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity regulation, developer's receiving any assistance under a HUD program are required to provide to HUD within 90 days of leasing or selling, "An Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan" which are reviewed and approved by HUD. Developers are monitored by HUD and other Fair Housing groups to ensure that the approved marketing plan is adhered to. Due to the lack of affordable housing in the community, the developers are also required to provide equal opportunity to all residents and that no one has any specific advantage for securing units. Department's Analysis of the proposed Ordinance 14- b\ t 4 - 14m o - Qk+- f- Lumr(uY) ty a n6 aonbmâ–ş c, ko rMm- We believe that these recommendations will strengthen the ordinance and allow the legislative intent of the commission to be realized without any undue fears of having a fair housing issue. Whereas the Department believes that the goals and legislative intent of the ordinance are much needed and laudable, it is the opinion of the department that the proposed ordinance, as drafted, might be incompatible with the intent of the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Regulations in the following ways: 1. Providing "First Notice" to City Officials and Commissioners, will require developers to provide two notices, one to the City as required under this ordinance and the other the general marketing notices as part of their affirmative marketing plan. This will have the inadvertent result of giving City Officials and those contacted by City officials, an unfair advantage over everyone else who is qualified to apply for housing. 2. If different City Officials take different actions based on the information provided by the developer, different parts of the community might have information or no information resulting in a possible filing of complaint by anyone who can assert that a specific part of the population has undue advantage of getting a unit in the project. For example, a district can organize a meeting with residents or send an email to residents about the leasing of a project. If this information does not get to all the residents of another district and they happen to be predominantly of a different race, a discrimination argument can be made. This is why using a newspaper of general circulation is generally recommended in addition to any other specialized marketing done as part of an effort to reach demographic groups who are "least likely to apply" for this type of housing. 3. The ordinance has an effective date which is 30 days from the final reading. This effective date does not allow current developers enough time to change their marketing plans to include such notice to City officials and therefore they might not be able to comply with the law. 4. The ordinance does not provide any means of enforcement. A developer that does not provide notice as required will not be looking at any consequences for that action. It will just be an ordinance on paper. Recommendation for stronger and defendable ordinance Based on the above, the Department has the following recommendations: 1. Rather than provide for "first notice" to city officials and commissioners, the ordinance can require that City Officials and Commissioners be provided written notice simultaneous with the first notice announcing the availability of the units no later than 60 days from the leasing or sale of the units. We believe that this will eliminate the two notices that the ordinance currently requires which might lead to some part of the residents having unfair advantage over other residents. 2. The ordinance should be made part of the zoning code where any affordable housing incentive or variance is provided to a developer by "Right" or otherwise. In so doing, it will be become a condition of providing that variance or incentive rather than another standalone ordinance 3. Including this ordinance in the zoning code allows the City to include a penalty for not adhering to the ordinance. For example, the ordinance can include "a revocation" of the a incentive or variance provided should the developer not provide that notice. In case where it is not possible to revoke the incentive or variance, the developer can be made "N to pay the savings made possible by that incentive or variance. 0 `° 0 C% ti o