A hard-fought victory for Laramie renters

Following comments by nonprofits, community organizers and UW students, the city council approved health and safety standards for rentals. Landlords opposed to the measure were unable to stop it.

The Laramie City Council approved rental regulations during its meeting Tuesday — ushering in health and safety standards for the city’s several thousand rental units while establishing both a registration system for landlords and a complaint system for tenants who find that their living arrangements fall short of the new standards.

Supporters of the ordinance — including some prominent public figures and Laramie’s largest and most visible nonprofits — said state laws provide inadequate protection for Laramie renters. They urged councilors to consider the power imbalance between profit-seeking landlords and shelter-seeking tenants.

“I’ve heard from my constituents and former Laramie residents enough to know we have a serious problem that is not resolved by the mere presence of a civil court system — a system that many have described to me as inaccessible, especially when a landlord reminds them that they are an attorney in town,” said Rep. Karlee Provenza (HD-45). “At the core of this, what we have is a power problem where one party has all of the power and the other doesn’t.”

The City Rental Housing Code will require that rental units be weatherproofed, structurally sound, and fitted with windows suitable for escape from a fire. Rentals will have to be free of mold and pests, while major heating, plumbing and electrical work will have to be performed by licensed professionals.

The new standards will not take effect until the city manager’s office develops the enforcement infrastructure — the aforementioned registration and complaint systems.

Tenants must first request fixes or remedies from their landlord, allowing the property owner 10 days to make repairs (or two days, if the repair involves an “essential service”). If no fix or remedy is forthcoming, the tenant may at that point lodge a complaint with the city manager’s office. The city manager will then investigate the complaint and could order the property owner to make the requested remedy. The landlord must then agree to fix whatever’s wrong with the rental in a timely manner or face fines for noncompliance.

Current remedies and the alleged necessity of stoves

A major point of contention between those in favor of rental regulations and those opposed was existing state statute. Wyoming Statutes 1-21-1201 through 1-21-1211 do outline some of the duties landlords and tenants have to one another and the judicial remedies available to both parties.

Some landlords have cited the existence of this state law as evidence that no further regulations are necessary.

The state law also prompted Councilor Pat Gabriel to question the value of the city’s regulations given that state statute requires rental units be kept in a “safe and sanitary condition fit for human habitation.”

“I’m not quite sure what we’re trying to get at here,” Gabriel said.

Councilor Erin O’Doherty responded that the new city regulations allow tenants to take more immediate action on urgent matters.

“If a refrigerator goes out in a rental, and you have to count on the state statute, it could be a month until you get a court hearing,” she said.

Local defense attorney Linda Devine added further context.

“I can tell you to get into court to address that issue can take two to three months,” she said. “First of all, you have to serve someone — if you can find them. They then have 20 days to respond, and then after that there can be negotiations back and forth. But it can take two to three months to even get into court.”

This discussion arose during debate on an amendment proposed by Councilor Andi Summerville. That amendment defined the major appliances a landlord must keep “in good working order” if they provide them. The amendment did not require landlords to furnish these specific appliances, but rather stated — should they choose to provide these appliances in apartments they own — landlords must maintain them.

The listed appliances included furnaces, water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, ovens and stoves.

Laramie Property Management Group co-owner Stephen Pence advocated unsuccessfully for language further clarifying that the only appliances required to be maintained would be those outlined in the lease. He reiterated his point from the ordinance’s second reading that some young renters do not want cooking facilities.

“There very well may be tenants who are willing to forego a stove in order for decreased rent,” he said. “I’m just saying that tenants exist that would appreciate the option to rent a place without a stove.”

Landlords: New standards would raise rents

Landlords warned that the new requirements and their enforcement could lead to raised rents or decreased housing availability.

Andrew Arnold said the ordinance’s stated goal of encouraging communication between landlords and tenants was laudable.

“I appreciate that; I actually have a similar desire for great housing in Laramie as a landlord,” Arnold said. “I don’t believe this ordinance accomplishes that goal and from my perspective, it’s actually written in a way that potentially undermines those goals in many ways.”

The extra burdens of updating apartments or fielding maintenance requests from tenants could drive some local landlords out of the business, Arnold said.

“I think this ordinance has the potential to decrease the number of affordable housing units in the city (and) potentially small business owners and landlords choosing to take their properties off the market, not wanting to deal with the bureaucratic process that this ordinance creates,” he said. “Or potentially landlords choosing to increase rental prices and costs across their properties to account for increased costs and risk associated with the ordinance. I don’t think that’s something you want to do.”

The Laramie Board of Realtors also came out against rental regulations.

“A great many of the issues tenants are reporting could be remedied using existing state laws,” said Brenda Whitman, representing the group. “After speaking to the majority of the brokers in our membership, I can report that our brokers are unequivocally against the ordinance as written. As you can imagine, it is uncommon for a group this size to have a consensus of opinion and yet, in this, we do.”

There were other complaints about the ordinance raised by individuals who might not be landlords. Andy Smith — who owns only one property in his own name according to Albany County Assessor data — is the father of Grace Smith and one of the Wyoming parents currently bringing a conspiratorial, misinformation-heavy lawsuit against various government entities.

He said there was no evidence of a serious problem with the Laramie rental landscape.

“It seems to be a matter of deep concern to me why we are even having a discussion of this ordinance, having never proved or given examples of loss of life or injury or extreme unsafe or uninhabitable living conditions that have not been handled in accordance to normal, legal remedies that are already in place,” he said.

In fact, previous local reporting has demonstrated dismal living conditions in some Laramie rentals, the powerlessness of young, inexperienced renters, and the deficiencies in the current legal remedies technically available to tenants.

There was also one rental tenant who spoke against the regulations.

Shannon Davis said property owners were more motivated to take care of their own property than licensed contractors would be, as they have a vested interest. But she also said having landlords who don’t fix every issue is character-building.

“In this process, I have learned how to be resilient and how to fight for my own,” Davis said. “And with the ordinance … it’s not building resistance. What it’s doing is perpetuating a culture of safetyism, where these people — whether they’re older or younger or middle-aged or where they are in between — they don’t have to actually problem solve or figure things out. I have to prioritize: is this problem I have with my rental actually something I really, really need?”

Nonprofits, tenants: The situation is worse than you think

The majority of renters, however, spoke of the desperate need for rental regulations. Others went further, saying the regulations before council were the “bare minimum” that should be done to protect Laramie renters.

The statements made by rental tenants stand in stark contrast to the voices claiming no problem exists — describing as they do a landscape in which unchecked property owners lord over poor tenants desperate for housing and trapped by their financial realities.

“In 2019, we found housing that was not what I would personally define as livable,” said Skully Stilgorick, a former Laramie renter. “The smell of mold pervaded the house, the ceiling was cracked and water would drip into the lighting fixture when it would rain, and the person who did repairs on the house could not possibly have been certified by any conscionable licensing board. The apartment was very poorly sealed — so much so that we had wasps coming in regularly through the windows in the spring and summer. I believe the record for one day was eight.”

Scott Shively said he had lived in various places throughout his adult life.

“By far the most appalling housing situations I’ve been in have been in this town,” he said. “I don’t know many people who have rented here who don’t have some story. I’ve had vermin in my house, I’ve had a sewer pipe back up in my living room, all these very unsanitary things — and I consider myself lucky by a lot of standards.”

Indeed, a survey conducted by ASUW, the University of Wyoming student senate, found more than one in five student renters have had issues with current or former landlords. ASUW collected these testimonies and attached them to the senate’s resolution supporting the city’s new ordinance. Those testimonies describe abusive business practices and grim living conditions.

Linda Devine said she felt sick to her stomach hearing the comments opposed to the regulations, adding that many landlords were out-of-touch with the struggles faced by Laramie’s poorest residents.

“When you grow up in a middle class income life and you surround yourself with like-minded individuals, it can be difficult to see what’s really going on with rental property in Laramie,” she said. “I challenge folks to get in the trenches and see what’s really going on — go spend a day at Interfaith or Family Promise or SAFE Project and see the deplorable condition that some folks are actually living in.”

To that end, Devine read a statement from SAFE Project endorsing the proposed rental regulations. SAFE Project is an organization that assists and advocates for survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking. The statement highlights the fact that many landlords have been difficult to deal with, refusing to maintain apartments or return deposits for clients of SAFE Project.

“This has cost Safe Project thousands of dollars as clients have had to vacate these properties due to poor conditions, resulting in lost deposits for clients and SAFE Project,” Devine said, reading the statement to council. “Our board of directors have created a list of landlords who SAFE Project will not recommend to clients, nor provide rental financial assistance to if the client chooses to rent from them. In our experience, people who are the most vulnerable tend to be taken advantage of the most. And without financial resources and other forms of support, many renters are forced to live in squalor or return to abusive and unsafe households.”

Laramie Interfaith Executive Director Josh Watanabe also expressed his organization’s support for the ordinance. Interfaith works directly with Laramie’s most disadvantaged populations through its pantry and through rental and other assistance programs.

“The fact that we’re having to define minimum habitation standards is a problem,” Watanabe said. “I think there’s a false dichotomy between livability and affordability. This resolution is a statement to those at risk in our community about the place we’re trying to create and the steps we’re willing to take to help those who cannot help themselves, who cannot afford the legal help they need or even to go file in small claims court.”

‘A basic set of assurances that a rental is, and will remain, safe’

The Laramie City Council passed the ordinance on a 7-2 vote, mirroring earlier votes to advance the ordinance. Councilors Bryan Shuster and Pat Gabriel were opposed to the idea of rental regulations in 2019 when the issue was brought before council, were opposed through this new ordinance’s first and second reading, and ultimately cast the two dissenting votes Tuesday.

Councilor Brian Harrington referenced the 2019 attempt at rental regulations in his final statement.

“Many of the property owners that came to speak that evening assured us that the market would solve this problem, that the city really didn’t need to take any action because the market would address it,” he said. “The question for me at this point is: has it?  Are things better now than they were three years ago? Are tenants any more safe today than they were three years ago? And I think, resoundingly, the answer is no.”

Harrington added the new standards and their enforcement would not significantly burden landlords.

“It’s only activated if a substantiated complaint is levied to the city,” he said. “The fee is nominal. $15 or $20 a year is a nominal fee, especially when you can deduct it from your taxes. And it’s really specific to health and safety. This would qualify as a modest proposal by really any metric. It creates a basic set of assurances that a rental is, and will remain, safe. That seems like a very basic thing for our city to offer its residents.”

Councilor Fred Schmechel echoed Harrington’s comments, adding that improved transparency would serve the community.

“Two weeks ago, the Washington Post wrote an article about the ‘Cowboy Cocktail,’ where Wyoming’s business registration laws combined with our heavy privacy laws make it very difficult to track large financial sums of people like Russian oligarchs and South American drug lords that hold their property within Wyoming,” Schmechel said. “And this is the same feature that’s available to landlords that register their business as well.”

Councilor Erin O’Doherty was perhaps the most forceful defender of the ordinance on council, having spoken passionately for its passage at previous meetings.

At Tuesday’s meeting, O’Doherty responded directly to one of the ordinance’s detractors. Earlier in the night, a property owner had said that if the ordinance passed, one of his fellow landlords would have to shell out $50,000 for egress windows in his rental units.

“I put egress windows in a basement apartment for less than $1,000,” O’Doherty said. “So it was taken care of in a couple months’ rent, plus you can write it off on your taxes. So if people can’t put in egress windows, I don’t have much sympathy.”

O’Doherty said she had closely watched last weekend’s Marshall fire in Boulder, Colorado.

“What would stop something like that from happening in Laramie?” O’Doherty asked.

The fire was the most destructive in Colorado history, tearing through suburbs and destroying nearly 1,000 homes. Laramie’s new ordinance would both require adequate fire escapes and, through the registration system, provide the city with contact information for all of its landlords.

“We don’t have a megalopolis-worth of fire departments to come in and help us,” O’Doherty said. “So if one grass fire takes off and goes through town … we don’t know how to contact an owner and say, ‘Do you have tenants? Do we need to send firefighters in there and try to save somebody or are we just wasting our time?’”

O’Doherty said that line of communication would be vital in an emergency situation. The new health and safety standards, she said, could also save lives.

“We need to know where the rentals are and know that they have egress windows,” she said. “If somebody has $50,000-worth of egress windows to put in, that says to me there’s 50 people living in houses with bedrooms that they can’t get out of, or the firefighters can’t get in to save them.”

According to the city manager’s proposed timeline, the ordinance will take full effect by the first day of 2023. That gives the city time to educate landlords on the new requirements, and landlords time to bring their rentals up to snuff.