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On Wednesday, November 16th nearly 50 activists gathered outside of city hall steps for a rally organized by the ACLC before crowding into the city commission’s special hearing, where the Gainesville Police Department attempted to justify its need for continuing the canine unit. Inside, there was standing room only. Citizens and activists organized by the ACLC, Florida Prisoner’s Solidarity, and activist Dani Chanzes were there to ask the Gainesville Commission to abolish the canine unit, noting the long history of dogs used as a weapon of terror against Black men, and most recently against Terrell Bradley. 

While GPD insisted the canine unit was needed to “chase down rapists” and find missing persons, GPD’s own presentation confirmed the dogs are used primarily against non-violent offenders (most of whom are disproportionately Black men), and activists were quick to remind GPD that more often than not, the police delay investigating rape and have other means to find missing persons. GPD said the dogs are “fun” for the community, while activists relayed the pleas of the community to end an out-of-date practice that goes back to slave patrols, noting this history is more important than any benefit from the dogs’ public appearances. ACLC Justice Committee activist Nicole La Roque recited findings from the internal affairs investigation of the Terrell Bradley incident, in which officers texted each other about taking the dogs hunting on the “eastside.” Finally, activists pointed out that in 2022, more humane options exist for apprehending suspects. The commission directed staff to investigate alternatives and voted to table the issue until the new commission is sworn in.

For background on the issues with GPD’s K-9 Unit, please read Sheila Payne’s and Bobby Mermer’s op-ed in the Independent Florida Alligator at this link.

Since mid-July, the ACLC Criminal Justice “Reform” Committee has been working in partnership with the Sunshine Forum, a group of UF students dedicated to improving the lives of Floridians through legislation, on a proposal that would provide 15 minutes of free phone calls per day for inmates of the Alachua County Jail.

The official Sunshine Forum/ACLC proposal is almost complete. But we would like to share the current draft with you to keep you informed on the progress of this campaign to make the Alachua County Jail more humane, reduce recidivism, and minimize the harm faced by families and friends by the incarceration of their loved ones.

Final proposal with complete research coming soon!

At our September Membership Meeting we hosted a panel on the ACLC-sponsored Gainesville Renters’ Rights Ordinance and similar legislation we are sponsoring at the county-level The panel was Moderated by Safe and Affordable Housing Committee Chair Sheila Payne. Panelists were: Gainesville City Commissioner Adrian Hayes-Santos, Special Adviser to the City Manager (Gainesville) Andrew Persons, Acting Alachua County Assistant County Manager Missy Daniels, and Greta Moreau from Alachua County Rental Housing Codes. Watch below!

Stefan Samarripas, Local Policy Manager for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), recently published a blog post reporting:

“Renter households that were behind on energy bills were also more likely to report being behind on rent when being surveyed, according to an analysis averaging experimental Census Bureau data collected since July 2021. Our analysis of that new data, from last month’s Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey, reveals that 33% of roughly 44 million renter households across the United States were behind on their energy bills in the past year. Among those behind on energy bills nearly every month, almost half were also behind on rent.

Energy efficiency upgrades could help renters keep up with these bills by lowering monthly energy costs, but property owners must approve these improvements and are unlikely to do so amid reduced rental income. Recent research indicates that owners seeing decreased rental income from their properties since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are less likely to invest in their buildings. Policymakers and utility regulators can address this problem with increased funding for energy efficiency programs targeting rental properties that are home to energy-insecure households. ”

You can read the full blog post here.

Our community has a severe shortage of affordable housing. With 3,000 new residents projected to be moving into Alachua County every year, the Alachua County Labor Coalition supports a variety of measures to help increase the overall number of affordable housing units in the future.

However, we also believe this community must address existing housing costs for our community’s most vulnerable residents now. Renters in this community are due basic rights and protections such as a safe place to live, affordable utility bills, freedom from discrimination and rental deposit theft, and disclosure of their rights and responsibilities as tenants.

We believe that these aims can best be achieved through a comprehensive renters’ rights ordinance. The proposal that we have put forward — in consultation with city and county commissioners and Florida Legal Services as well as landlords, renters, neighborhood associations, faith communities, civic organizations, and other stakeholders throughout our community — is revenue-neutral and based upon existing programs and services with a demonstrated track record of success.

Our proposed ordinance poses a threat to no one except landlords with a pattern of misconduct, and in fact levels the playing field for the majority of landlords throughout our community who strive to keep their housing livable.

Universal, low-cost licensing and inspections of rental units should be mandatory. Renters reasonably fear calling code enforcement. ACLC continues to get calls about serious safety code infractions that, when reported to authorities, too often leads to an eviction notice.

Under this proposal, inspections would be carried out by certified inspectors to ensure the safety of the dwelling, including structural integrity, working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors, proper locks, electrical outlets, and other basic safety standards.

Energy/water efficiency standards in rental units are one of the most immediate ways to decrease overall cost of living for many folks. These standards have been developed by energy experts and could be assigned a point value, allowing landlords to choose from a range of options to achieve low-cost, high return on investment efficiency upgrades. A layer of insulation in the attic and high efficiency toilets, for instance, would go a long way to helping lower renter utility costs.

Safety and efficiency standards could not only save lives, but they could also help reduce total housing costs by addressing the dramatic inequities in efficiency between owner-occupied and rental properties.

In acknowledgment of the amount of rental housing to be inspected and brought up to code and the added workload and expense, landlords will be given a generous window of compliance. Funds have already been allocated for efficiency upgrades in the form of grants or low-interest loans, depending on whether the property is kept affordable.

People deserve protection from discrimination, and discrimination in housing is particularly insidious. The Labor Coalition is pleased that both the City of Gainesville and Alachua County have adopted protections against discrimination in housing based upon source of income, citizenship status and other identified protected classes.

Another chronic problem identified by renters is the practice of some landlords to routinely deny the return of security deposits to their tenants, regardless of cause. This practice leaves students and low-income tenants with little recourse and creates tremendous financial instability.

The Alachua County Labor Coalition supports an arbitration program modeled on the county’s highly-successful wage recovery ordinance. This program would be designed to offer a fast and cheap alternative to longer, more drawn-out court proceedings and would be free to tenants and landlords and available upon either party’s request.

Both landlords and tenants would benefit from increased education, and this education can be easily provided during initial discussions about a rental agreement. Licensed landlords would provide tenants with basic information about their dwelling units, including compliance with local codes, the previous 12 months’ utility consumption or efficiency rating, and other educational materials that describe renters’ rights as well as their responsibilities as tenants.

Alachua County is now discussing implementing the Safe and Healthy Housing Renters Rights ordinance after observing the roll out of the City of Gainesville Rental Housing Ordinance. As before, many lobbyists for corporate landlords are testifying that this has moved too fast, though it has been over two years of many meetings and energy efficiency standards will not be implemented till 2026.

Rental property, like any other business such as a restaurant or salon, should be licensed and inspected for safe conditions. Why should low-income residents and their children live in shoddy, dangerous surroundings?

Sheila Payne and Jason Fults are members of the Alachua County Labor Coalition Housing Committee.

Did you miss our Gainesville Commission Candidate Forum? No worries. You can watch the recording below!

Candidates have begun submitting their completed questionnaires and the first batch is now available for public review on a dedicated page for 2022 city candidates. You can access the page by following this link.

Commission candidates have until June 30th to complete their questionnaires, and mayoral candidates have until July 7th to do so. So, be sure to check the page often to read responses from more candidates.

And don’t forget the City Commission Candidate Forum takes place on Thursday, July 14th at Emmanuel Mennonite Church (1236 NW 18th AVE in Gainesville). The Mayoral Forum will follow on Thursday, July 28th at the same location. Food and beverage will be served at 6:00 pm and candidates will begin fielding questions at 6:30 pm.

Please share this link to the questionnaires with your neighbors! And we hope to see you at the forums!

ACLC Affordable Housing activists Pam Paris and Sheila Payne attended two housing workshops hosted by the City of Gainesville in June 2022. Pam Paris took excellent notes so the community remain informed. Please see her notes below.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING WORKSHOPS HELD IN GAINESVILLE IN JUNE 2022

The Office of the City Manager for Gainesville, FL defines Affordable Housing as “housing in which the occupant is paying no more than 30 percent of gross income for housing costs, including utilities.” Other definitions pertinent to discussions about affordable housing were included in a handout provided during the June 2022 workshops.  That handout which is included in the full 8-page version of the Affordable Housing Framework for Discussion can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/AH-Framework-2022. It’s worth reading and it includes a chart that shows all the 16 agencies partnering with the City, and the services they offer.

Gainesville’s Affordable Housing Strategic Plan recommends “high-impact strategies to expand housing affordability in Gainesville through a combination of incentives, policy changes, and funding sources.” These strategies are grouped in the following manner:

•                    Diversifying Funding Sources
•                    Increasing Zoning Flexibility
•                    Promoting Permanent Affordability

The two city-sponsored workshops in June 2022  (6/1 & 6/4) at Bo Diddley Plaza included a review of these strategies and a call for input from the participating citizens. More details can be found at the link above.

The June 1^st workshop that Pam & Sheila attended was designed to explain Inclusionary vs Exclusionary Zoning but it also provided the City with the opportunity to hear from many members of the community who were very angry with how the development of areas around the University of Florida has been conducted and the impact on the surrounding neighborhoods.

In the June 4th workshop, there were 8 breakout sessions offered, as follows:

•                   Affordable Housing 101
•                   Affordable Housing Preservation
•                   Community Land Trust
•                   First-Time Homebuyer Programs
•                   Funding Priorities
•                   Housing Vouchers
•                   Infill Housing*
•                   Rental Housing Program*

*Pam was able to attend these on 6/4 and can provide more details on the discussion around these. Some highlights:

The Infill Housing breakout group provided the opportunity for at least one member of the community who is very familiar with the needs of east Gainesville to speak about the need for affordable housing, including infill. The pros and cons of Infill were discussed too.

Some notable info shared in the Rental Housing Program breakout group was that only 450 inspections out of 6,000 have been completed.  However, many of those 450 had to be re-visited by City staff due to the lack of appropriate zoning experience of the undergraduate engineering students that were hired by the firm the former city manager contracted with to perform the inspections. As a result, the City is trying to hire 4 or 5 more inspectors (code officers) to catch up with the backlog, rather than use a contracted service. The City is having trouble finding good candidates at this point.

Based on a review of the session’s whiteboard notes, the Affordable Housing Preservation breakout session hit on all the areas that the ACLC has heard about from members of the rental community – for example, the fact that property managers don’t honor vouchers, renters being evicted if the renter reports the landlord for code violations, etc.

It is notable that the City of Gainesville Affordable Housing Initiatives from 2018 – 2022 (to date) have extensive timelines in which the following initiatives were discussed with various groups in the Gainesville community:

Housing Action Plan – met 7 times (2018 – 2021) in public meetings

GNVRise – met 8 times (2018-2019) in public meetings/workshops

GCRA 10 Year Reinvestment Plan – met 17 times (2019-2020) in public meetings; draft creation, review, and finalization meetings.

GCRA Pleasant Street Affordable Housing INFILL Opportunity Project – met 5 times in 2020 for presentations and neighborhood engagement meetings.

GCRA Porters Affordable Housing INFILL Opportunity Project – met 3 times in 2021 for engagement meetings and presentation meetings.

GCRA Housing Programs Community Outreach Campaign – met 10 times for presentations to various neighborhoods, and planning sessions.

Decisions by City Commission regarding Affordable Housing Initiatives – 4 decisions in 2020, 1 decision 2022 (so far), as follows:

1. Adopted recommendations of the Rental Housing Subcommittee
2. Passed Multi-part Housing motion
3. Expand allowance for Accessory Dwelling Units
4. Expand allowance for Single Room Occupancies, and Reduce tree mitigation for Affordable Housing
5. Approval of Bright Community Trust, Inc. as the City’s Community Land Trust Partner

ImagineGNV Comprehensive Plan Update – met 7 times in 2021 for listening sessions on racial equity, housing justice, economic justice, the community cultivators program, “conversations in a box”, the Konveio Website.  There were 16 public meetings in 2021 to discuss various aspects of the Comp Plan Update.

Current Inclusionary/Exclusionary Zoning Process – 5 public hearings/meetings held around this (one in 2020, one in 2021, and three in 2022).  For definitions and details about Inclusionary Zoning and Exclusionary Zoning, please see page 6 of the Affordable Housing Framework, which can be found here:  https://bit.ly/gainesvilleEZIZ.  This 55-page document provides many details about Affordable Housing Initiatives in the City of Gainesville plus some nationwide statistics for greater context.

HANDOUTS PAM COLLECTED DURING THE JUN 2022 MEETINGS:

GCRA – Gainesville Community Reinvestment Area – 10 Year Reinvestment Plan (120+ page picture book)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Income Limits for Gainesville MSA 2022

Home Energy Tune-Up Programs

Affordable Housing Framework for Discussion

Exclusionary Zoning (EZ) – definition, benefits, limitations

Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) – definition, benefits, limitations

City of Gainesville Fair Housing Ordinance – mission statement and contact information

For xerox copies, contact Pam Paris with ACLC at 352-262-1317 – or contact the City of Gainesville for full color copies.