Beefing up the city of Syracuse’s rental registry program could help improve the city’s aging housing stock and prevent tenant displacement, according to a new report from City Auditor Alex Marion.Marion’s report was unveiled Thursday morning outside city hall. It highlights the Department of Code Enforcement’s inability to enforce the rental registry ordinance, which requires property owners to maintain their properties in compliance with the city’s property code. Fewer than half of the eligible rental properties are in compliance, and only about one in four eligible rental properties are issued a rental registry certificate any given year, the auditor’s report found.It also calls into question whether the city is accurately accounting for all properties that fit the program’s criteria. Marion’s report estimates that there could be as many as more than 15,000 properties that could be eligible for the rental registry, compared to the more than 8,300 currently shown in the city’s online public records portal. The revenue generated by the program, Marion also notes, doesn’t always match the numbers budgeted by the city year over year.The report is another call from Marion for relief for city tenants as renters face high rents, increasing family homelessness, and steadily high numbers of evictions. Marion also released a report on how a local version of “good cause” eviction protections could help tenants avoid displacement last fall.The rental registry was instituted in 2007 and requires property owners renting one and two family homes in Syracuse to schedule a property codes inspection with the city’s Division of Code Enforcement every three years and pay an application fee of $150. The program helps tenants in two ways: it helps maintain their home in compliance with property code, and it also allows them to prevent evictions if their home doesn’t have a valid certificate.To bolster the program, Marion recommends Common Council-approved amendments to the rental registry ordinance that would up the financial penalties for non-compliance. Those funds should then be re-invested toward the city’s housing goals at a time when financial forecasters predict bleak financial futures for Syracuse, he writes. The city should also require lead fixtures to be disclosed to tenants and replaced before a certificate can be issued, Marion said. The ordinance, Marion wrote, should also be amended to allow the Department of Code Enforcement to revoke a rental registry certificate if housing conditions in the dwelling are not up to par. He also called for rental registry compliance certificates to be displayed on the door of every unit in a property, and that water service lines made out of lead and the presence of lead paint should be disclosed to tenants and fixed prior to the issuance of a rental registry certificate.Issues with compliance, tracking of eligible properties, and accountingAbout 42% of the 8,350 properties shown in the data portal as eligible for the program are registered, the report found using the city’s Open Data portal. A year-to-year analysis paints a more dour picture. Because properties are on a three year cycle, Marion argues in the report, that means that at least one-third of all properties need to be re-inspected any given year. Only about half of those, or one in every four, are issued a certificate every year, Marion writes. The number of code violations issued to property owners for not complying with the ordinance is also in disarray, Marion writes. The department has issued fewer than 2,500 violations for failing to register since July 2022, a number that doesn’t match the almost 4,500 properties that are not registered.Marion’s report also delves into whether the city is displaying the correct number of eligible properties as part of its public records. An analysis of the city’s Open Data portal currently shows 8,358 properties eligible for the program. City officials say in the report that they use a formula to estimate what properties are eligible for the registry. The estimate from the city included in the report suggests that the number of properties that require rental registry compliance is actually almost 11,000. A survey of the 2024 assessment rolls performed by Marion’s office found that more than 31,000 structures in the city are classified as one and two family residences. Marion wrote in his report the city should incorporate prior rental information, home sales, tax and water bill mailing addresses, license and permit filings, and tax credit information to its formula to better account for eligible properties.The city, Marion found, also struggles appropriately budgeting the revenue program registrations generate year after year. “With a $150 registration fee, actual counts of registered properties should directly correspond to a certain amount of revenue using simple multiplication,” Marion wrote. “In recent years, however, the actual annual revenue provided in the city’s budget book never equals this equation, sometimes coming in higher, and other times lower, depending on the year. It also never divides out to an even value.”For instance, in the past three out of four budget years, the city has ended up with revenue shortfalls in the hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. In 2021-22 there was a revenue excess of almost $100,000.These inaccurate forecasts, Marion says, repeatedly put the city in unfavorable financial positions.RecommendationsMarion’s report includes a series of recommendations, including the following:An increase of the rental registry inspection fee to $250. An increase of the financial penalty of noncompliance to $1,000, with escalating fees for continued neglect. The creation of a compliant landlord list to best inform tenants of landlord compliance. Amending the ordinance to allow the revocation of certificates to landlords who are not providing adequate housing. Offering information sessions through local nonprofits to inform landlords of the registry. Organizing more proactive code enforcement inspections and notifying landlords of expiring registry certificates ahead of time.  Requiring landlords to notify tenants of lead fixtures and withholding certificates of rental registry compliance until those lead sources are remediated.  Requiring lead swipe testing at properties as they are inspected and when new tenants are moving in.The post Syracuse auditor: City needs to get serious about rental registry appeared first on Central Current.