The city of Saratoga is looking for a way out of the flap over renting the Hakone Gardens caretaker's cottage as an affordable housing unit, and may have found a way to do it.
City Manager Larry Perlin told the City Council Feb. 17 that the city hopes to hire an agency to serve as an independent landlord and handle all the issues that come along with managing a rental property.
The landlord would take care of all rental related matters, including taking applications, screening applicants, ensuring compliance with fair housing laws, receiving a security deposit and rent, and dealing with tenant/landlord concerns.
No agency has been retained yet, but the city has started looking for agencies qualified to provide the management services.
Perlin said the city would prefer an organization with experience in dealing with affordable housing units.
Interviews with two agencies now managing affordable housing units in Saratoga are scheduled for the end of this month. When an agency is hired, it will get about 6 percent of the annual rent in fees, or about $600. The rest of the rent will go to the Hakone Foundation, as previously planned.
The move came after the Palo Alto-based fair housing agency Project Sentinel took issue with statements attributed to the city in newspaper articles specifying that children would be inappropriate tenants and that the ideal tenants would be a retired couple. For the city to announce to whom it wanted to rent is discriminatory and violates fair housing laws, according to Project Sentinel. The cottage is supposed to be open to anyone who qualifies for affordable housing, just as all rentals are supposed to be fair game for anyone who applies, regardless of familial situation, race or creed.
According to Project Sentinel, current laws say the two-bedroom cottage is large enough for four or five people, not just two. On the other hand, the city was concerned about renting the unit to a family with children because it's located next to Hakone's parking lot and near the pond inside Hakone Gardens.
Hakone Gardens, formerly operated by the City of Saratoga, is now managed by the Hakone Foundation. A volunteer board oversees the foundation's activities.
Saratoga, California Since 1975
