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Date: 4/5/2022
NORTHAMPTON – On April 25, an open forum will be conducted over Zoom at 5:30 p.m. to inform the public about a bill that aims to eliminate broker’s fees for prospective Northampton renters.
The proposed bill, which is also known as a “home rule petition,” would instead ask landlords to take care of any broker expenses that may sometimes fall on the tenant’s lap when they agree to a place for rent.
According to Carmen Junno, the chair of the Northampton Housing Partnership, the Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission (PVPC), in conjunction with the Housing Partnership, conducted a housing study in 2019, and issued a report titled, “Unlocking Opportunity: An Assessment of Barriers To Fair Housing in Northampton.”
The study, which is over 100 pages, went into detail about a whole variety of factors that impedes people from getting housing in Northampton, including costs, a lack of transportation, limited job opportunities and more.
“Northampton is seen as a city of opportunity,” said Junno. “People from elsewhere want to move here, and of course, if you have money, we see all the cash offers for homes. But, if you are of a lower income and need an affordable place or subsidized housing, it’s very, very difficult.”
The Northampton Housing Partnership, which is a committee for the city made up of 11 members – including a liaison – research and advocates for affordable housing opportunities across the city.
“Some of what we do is sort of cheerleading around the affordable housing opportunities that are being developed or could be developed here,” said Junno. “But, sometimes, we can take concrete action around some things.”
In studying the report, the partnership found that much of the rental market is tied up in rental agencies. “There are some landlords that do their own advertising and vetting of potential tenants,” said Junno. “But many, many landlords go through several large agencies.”
The problem they found, according to Junno, was many of the tenants who accept an apartment through a rental agency, such as Rent Noho, are paying 60 to 75 percent of their first month’s rent to that rental agency. Add that with the fact that some landlords also ask for security deposits and last month’s rent, and many renters are finding barriers to affordability when looking for an apartment.
“With rents being very high here, even for a one bedroom, which could be $1,500 or more, you’re looking at $3,000 to $4,500, plus a broker’s fee that a potential tenant has to pay,” said Junno. “And all of that is just out of reach for our low to moderate income population.”
As a result, the Housing Partnership went and drafted this legislation with the help of the city’s Ordinance Committee to take the broker’s fee burden off of the tenants.
According to Junno, the April 25 forum was created because Northampton City Councilors want stakeholders, specifically landlords and rental companies, to be able to see how this new law could affect housing in the future.
Now, if landlords were to become the ones taking care of rental fees, Junno said that landlords may try to raise rents, which is a topic that she hopes will be addressed during this forum. While there would most likely not be other revenue sources to pay for these rental fees, Junno said that landlords do have the ability to make this work without having to raise rents or go through a rental agency to reach tenants.
“Landlords could choose not to go through a rental agency,” said Junno. “They can do this themselves for no money with a little bit work. The fact is that the information that rental agencies access, for example-credit history, or criminal history-are easily available to landlords, too.”
According to rental market trend statistics provided by point2homes.com, and confirmed by Junno, renters take up about 45 percent of Northampton real estate, as of March 2022. Additionally, the average apartment to rent in Northampton costs $1,957, which presents a rent increase of about 13 percent from the year before.
The bill will be taken up by the council after the forum for future deliberation, according to Junno. A link will be available for the forum a couple of days before it occurs.