Pay-to-Stay adopted by Athens City Council, again

Athens City Council adopted the Pay-to-Stay ordinance on Monday night for the second time after much debate and community input. On Sept. 19, council voted to table discussion of the ordinance during its reconsideration, council voted unanimously to adopt the ordinance with suggestions for future amendments last night. 

“There's no doubt in my mind that we need this,” Councilmember Alan Swank said, he later noted the connection between housing insecurity and children’s performances in school. Swank recalled his time working for Athens High School regarding the effects of housing insecurity on children. 

Councilmember Solveig Spjeldnes suggested hearing community thoughts while representatives of United Athens County Tenants (UACT) and a local landlord shared their thoughts on the ordinance. 

“I’m asking you to vote no to this new law,” Alan McMillan said.

McMillan, a local landlord and Schey Sales Centre Professional Sales Advisory Board member, shared that he found the eviction process to be “painful.” 

“I just don't think enough thought has been put into this,” McMillan said and went on to mention the legal fees cap and the “compassion” of landlords when it comes to evictions or potential evictions. 

Zack Eckles, policy advocate at the Ohio Poverty Law Center, urged the council to pass the ordinance: “There are plenty of good landlords out there and their tenants will not need to utilize this ordinance. But like there are bad tenants there are bad landlords, and this ordinance will provide a safeguard for the tenants to enter into lease agreements with those bad landlords”

Swank motioned to send the ordinance back to committee because “it gives each council member an opportunity to look at this data (eviction cases in City of Athens), at his or her convenience and then bring back a good ordinance, a solid ordinance that protects not only the tenants but the interest of those who own the property.”

UACT Representative Katherine King, shared her experience working with children and the difficulties with stabilizing housing. King shared instances of discrimination and harassment from landlords that impacted a tenant’s housing situation. 

“I think it's naive to say that all landlords have the best interests of tenants at heart,” King said. 

King implored council to adopt the ordinance sooner rather than later. 

Councilmember Jeff Risner agreed with King. 

Although he proposed an amendment to the ordinance, which would effectively move the ordinance back to its first reading delaying its adoption, Swank voted for the adoption of Pay-to-Stay. 

Swank and Spjeldnes expressed their motivation to amend the ordinance to potentially change the legal fees cap and include an option for mediation between landlords and tenants to avoid eviction. 

“Good policy is very difficult to do,” Spjeldnes said. “There's a lot of considerations and, as it’s been noted, it's not going to be perfect the first time.”