The revised version of the ordinance is
the product of eighteen months of work by a task force appointed by
Mayor Curtatone in response to the controversy provoked by the original
2006 proposal.

Both versions of the proposed ordinance would regulate the conversion of two- and three-unit rental properties.

The
2006 proposal, made in response to the increasing rate of two- and
three-unit condo conversions in Somerville during the real estate boom,
met with fierce criticism from small property owners.

It would
have increased tenant notification times to four years, and relocation
assistance to $4,000 for low- and moderate-income, handicapped and
elderly tenants. For all other tenants, the notification time was to
have been two years, and relocation payments were to have been $2,000.

Somerville's existing ordinance limits notification time to two years, and relocation assistance to one month's rent.

The
proposed measures prompted Skip Schloming, of the Somerville Small
Property Owners Association, to call the proposed ordinance "de facto
rent control," and were challenged by Alderman Bill White on legal
grounds at a contentious public hearing in 2006.

The new
proposal is a compromise between the original 2006 proposal and the
concerns voiced by property owners. It decreases notification times for
two- and three-unit properties to six months for all tenants, and
halves relocation assistance to $2,000.

But just how much of a compromise these changes represent depends upon whom you ask.

"The
new version is slightly better than the old one, but still is
heavy-handed regulation," Schloming told The Somerville News. Schloming
and the Somerville Small Property Owners' Association remain opposed to
the revised version of the ordinance.

"It is bad policy all
around. It hurts rental property owners because, by imposing
restrictions, delays and extra costs, it reduces the value of rental
property across the whole city," Schloming explained, adding that the
consequent reduction in tax revenue "hurts everyone, including the city
as a whole."

"If you look at the ordinance, it has moved
substantially from where it was a couple of years ago," Greg Vasil, CEO
of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, told The Somerville News, but
as "a further restriction on private property rights" the GBREB also
opposes the ordinance. Vasil was one of two representatives of property
owners on the task force.

He pointed out that "many condo
conversions created housing for people who couldn't afford to buy a two
or three family property," which, he said, is not a process that the
city should restrict.

Those in favor of the revised ordinance speak of it in different terms.

"It's
a fair compromise in that it gives clarity to the process. It allows
landlords to convert their property, but balances that against tenants
who are facing displacement and must find time and money to relocate,"
explained Ellen Shachter, a senior attorney at Cambridge and Somerville
Legal Services, and one of two tenant advocates on the task force.

Mary
Regan, of the Somerville Community Corporation, explains that "Tenant
advocates gave up some of the things that would have been beneficial to
tenants in order to come up with this proposal that we thought would
gain the support of property owners."

The proposed ordinance
provides property owners "with a set of clear guidelines" for the
conversion process, and reduces their obligations to their tenants from
the original proposal, she said.

While proponents see the
regulation of two- and three-unit properties as a necessary consequence
of Somerville's high concentration of small rental properties,
opponents see the regulation as intrusive, pointing out that Somerville
is the only city in Massachusetts to regulate rental properties with
fewer than four units.

"We urge the city to deregulate the two's
and three's entirely," Schloming told the Somerville News, referring to
two- and three-unit properties. "Those two's and three's are two-thirds
of the city's housing stock — a huge segment of the tax base that is
being deliberately depressed in value by condo conversion regulation."

Somerville's
regulation of two- and three-unit properties dates back to the 1980s,
when a home-rule petition allowed the city to regulate those
properties. The existing ordinance regulating condo conversions dates
from the 1980s as well.

It has not been updated to reflect
increased relocation costs since that time, Shachter said, and has left
"tenants and landlords in limbo in terms of what parts of ordinance
apply."

The proposed ordinance addresses these concerns by
creating a review board to ensure that the process proceeds with
clarity and fairness, Shachter and Regan explained.

But Schloming expressed concern with the proposed review board.

"It
supervises every step in the conversion process and invites an owner's
tenants in to make objections and cause delays. Owners will need to
hire expensive attorneys to make their way safely through the condo
review board."

Of course, with the economy in crisis and real
estate prices in decline, the conditions that motivated the proposal of
the original ordinance-significant increases in the rate and
profitability of condo conversion-no longer exist. The number of
applications for condo-conversion permits declined by 61 percent from
2006 to 2008.

Both proponents and opponents, however, agree that
the ordinance remains relevant. Schloming argues that the ordinance
would "depress property values and reduce owners' equity in their
properties when those are already being threatened," as well as reduce
tax revenue at a time when the economy is already weak.

Shachter,
while acknowledging the poor economy, said that the proposed ordinance
should be enacted to protect tenants, explaining that "for tenants who
are being displaced, it doesn't matter if there are 10 or 60
conversions in a month-displacement is happening to them."

The
public hearing will take place on Tuesday, March 3, at 7:00pm, in the
Aldermen's Chambers at City Hall. A comparison between the existing
state law, Somerville's existing ordinance, the 2006 proposed
ordinance, and the revised ordinance, is available on Somerville's
government website.