Architect and former city councilmember Mark Primack says that without revisions, Santa Cruz’s rental inspection program threatens affordable housing.
Mark Primack—the bespectacled architect, planning commissioner and former city councilmember—is sitting on a bench at the construction site of his Delaware Addition mixed-use project. Having just stepped down from his metal ladder, Primack is talking about his past in city politics and the rental inspection ordinance, which was controversial when it passed in 2010.
Over the past few decades, landlords all over Santa Cruz have changed their homes and added on units—some higher quality than others, and not all of them within the letter of the law. Under Santa Cruz’s rental inspection program, which just turned two years old, the city is putting many rentals under the microscope with a checklist of requirements certain units must meet.
The program has been widely trumpeted as a success—most recently in a glowing article in the Sentinel—but Primack worries the ordinance threatens the existence of converted garages, back houses and “grassroots affordable housing” because they’re not all up to code.
“Just because they don’t meet code doesn’t mean they’re not safe,” he says.
A converted garage—or “accessory dwelling unit” to city planners—might be safe to live in, but too close to the property line to meet planning codes, for example. And units might not legally have enough required driveway parking. These are the kinds of tweaks the assistant planning director Alex Khoury and the city’s planning staff are studying for possible updates to the ordinance, and Primack says they are needed.
“It was approved five years too soon,” Primack says of the ordinance, “and there’s some catching up to do, so we’re figuring that out right now.”
Khoury notes the planning staff works with people to help them correct any violation if possible. He says any possible changes to the ordinance would be “minor.” Khoury adds, “It’s always been about providing safe housing.”.
Staff gave city council an update on the inspection program at a city council meeting last month. So far, 44 units, less than one percent of the units inspected, were abated. The council directed staff to come up with recommendations for how to improve the inspection program and minimize the loss of units.
Planning staff will look at possible ways to redefine the ordinance so that more properties fall within requirements—like eliminating a rule that says a unit must be several feet from a neighboring property. Another rule the staff will look at is “owner occupancy rule.” Currently if someone rents out their backhouse or garage, they must live on the property. Primack says the council passed that rule because they didn’t want out-of-state landlords buying up property and cramming renters into twice as many houses—a concern Khoury shares.
So far, the ordinance has already passed speed bumps. Harold Griffith, who owns a property off Nobel Drive, sued the city over the ordinance, arguing the mandatory fees were illegal and the inspections invaded privacy. After an unsuccessful appeal, he started a website on the subject, santacruzrentalrights.com, and is circulating a petition against the inspection program, which he calls a “witch hunt” against landowners.
Khoury says it’s no such thing.
“We knew we might find illegal units,” Khoury says. “But our first goal would be to find a way to legalize them.”
Primack is perturbed that the planning commission, which cancelled five of its last six twice-monthly meetings this past year for lack of business, was not asked to take this on. He also says he arrived in Santa Cruz 37 years ago with less than $50 in his pocket. He wants the town to support young people, UCSC students and recent grads today.
“If young people can’t afford to live here, this place is going to turn into a second-home retirement community. That’s not the place I want to live. That’s not where I put down roots,” Primack says. “To me, the accessory dwelling units are crucial.”
