BOISE, Idaho — The Boise City Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 29, about the proposed rental application fee ordinance sponsored by Council Member Lisa Sánchez.
If approved, the proposed ordinance would do the following:
- Require that the criteria on which a rental application will be judged must be disclosed before an application can be taken or accepted, along with the amount that will be charged for the application fee.
- Designate that the amount that can be charged by a property management company to apply for a residential unit shall not exceed the actual cost of the screening process or $30, whichever is lower.
- Stipulate that current tenants of a unit shall not be charged an application fee to move to another unit under the control of the same property owner.
- Further stipulate that violations would be an infraction, punishable by a $100 fine. Second or subsequent violations would be considered a misdemeanor and would also be punishable under those guidelines.
“As this proposal has moved through the process, I continue to hear from my constituents about how prevalent a problem this is,” Sánchez said. “I want to encourage everyone who has been impacted by high rental application fees to attend and testify at the public hearing. This is such an important issue, and I hope we hear from people who have never considered coming to City Hall before.”
The city will provide free on-site child care services for school-age children, provided by licensed Parks and Recreation employees. A Spanish language translator will also be available for anyone who needs Spanish language services. Community members can also share written comments on the rental application fee website [cityofboise.org].
The public hearing will be held at 6 P.M. at Boise City Hall, 150 Capitol Blvd., in the Maryanne Jordan City Council Chambers.
