Newark City Council discusses possibly putting rental caps in residential neighborhoods.
While not official legislation, yet, three members on council are behind an idea to cap the number of rental houses allowed on a street or in a neighborhood.
Despite it not being on the agenda at Monday’s meeting the subject of limiting the number of rentals in a given area was brought up by Councilman John Suchanec.
"For sure - in residential areas - we should consider using the block limit as a way of controlling, protecting, slowing down or minimizing the amount of rentals that can occur in residential properties," said Suchanec.
His idea is that only a certain percentage of a street or neighborhood – maybe either 10% or 20% - can be turned into rentals.
As an example of reaching a tipping point, he used the Oaklands neighborhood where four of the 14 homes or 29% are rentals.
Councilwoman Corinth Ford agrees with a rental cap for neighborhoods
"One of the things that really jacked up the cost of housing in Newark is speculators coming in and buying up old homes to use as rental properties. They can outbid a young couple by $30,000, $40,000 or $50,000, and that means that we don't have families moving into Newark, which is not a good thing," said Ford.
Mayor Travis McDermott is the other member on council supporting the idea. He says maintaining the quality of life in residential neighborhoods is important for the long-term stability of the city.
