Two weeks ago, Reno City Council postponed a vote on affordable housing fee reductions for the Stoker by Vintage Apartments project after several tenants from Vintage at the Crossings came forward to speak about living conditions in their building. They added that they’d received threats from management if they came forward to complain.
Vintage owns nine affordable apartment complexes in the area with published rents ranging from $800 to just over $1,600 per month. Day-to-day management of those properties is contracted to FPI Management, one of the largest property management companies in the nation. The new project, located at 500 Stoker Ave., will contain 180 units dedicated to seniors earning at or below 60% of the area’s average median income.
Greenstreet Development is the builder for the Vintage projects and is requesting a $1.46 million sewer fee reduction under the city’s affordable housing fee reduction codes. The property on Stoker Avenue will similarly be taken over by Vintage once it is completed.
Tenants from other Vintage properties came forward asking the city to deny the application for fee reductions. They have, for several years, complained about the conditions at their complexes and have asked the city to step in on a number of occasions. They argue that based on the poor conditions of existing Vintage affordable apartment properties, the company shouldn’t benefit from fee reductions.
At the Sept. 25 council meeting, Greenstreet’s Dane Hillyard asked the city to postpone the decision so his company could investigate the claims.
Failed HUD inspection
Reno City Housing Manager Cori Fisher provided an update to council members this week. She said Reno staff met with each tenant who came forward at the last meeting and compiled a list of complaints and concerns. The residents were then connected with other departments within the city or the FPI management team to resolve the issues.
She said Reno staff also met with representatives from FPI Management to share tenant concerns.
“The management company also held a meeting with residents, which our staff attended as well,” Fisher said. “City staff conducted a physical inspection of the property as well to ensure compliance.”
Eight issues were found during the inspection of Vintage at the Crossings, which opened in 2018. Under U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) standards even one deficiency results in a failed inspection. Fisher said HUD standards are the minimum that the city can follow and inspections must be completed at least once every three years.
“If there are more findings [the buildings] are more frequently assessed,” she said.
The deficiencies at Vintage at the Crossings included expired fire extinguishers, poorly patched ceiling holes, clogged vents, trash buildup and broken door knobs. Property management has 60-90 days to correct the issues.
“It’s a very nice property but needs a bit of TLC to get some carpets cleaned here and there, address some issues regarding trash.”
Fisher said the biggest issue appears to be trash issues, but some of the complaints residents lodged weren’t substantiated.
Council member Jenny Brekhus said she believes the city is not doing enough for tenants.
“I have consistently heard from residents, even on new ones that have opened up, that Vintage’s property management is failing. But I’ve also heard from non-subsidized projects that FPI is a real challenged property manager,” she said. “We expect more from our subsidized projects.”
“A lot of tenants’ interests are getting lost in this community. I think we need to re-kick the tenant committee to look at their interests,” Brekhus said. “I think staff needs to be more evidence-based to the council on this program.”
However, Brekhus added that she is very excited to see the Stoker project be completed because it’s a need in her ward and the property has in the past had numerous problems affecting nearby homeowners. 
‘Cosmetic’ vs. life safety concerns
Council member Devon Reese said he is worried that continued delays in the process will inhibit, or even prevent, the project from being completed. He said he visited the property and did not find a dilapidated “horrible project.”
“I looked at the community rooms and I was, quite frankly, blown away,” Reese said. “There are rooms there where art happens. There are opportunities for the residents to engage in crafts and billiards, movie night, theater, popcorn, a lot of great things.”
“What is our role even as council members in advocating for our tenants? … It’s our job to hear our tenants.”
He said he believes FPI and Vintage worked together on the corrective plan.
“It’s a very nice property but needs a bit of TLC to get some carpets cleaned here and there, address some issues regarding trash,” Reese said. “My understanding though is that there were no code compliance issues, there were no life-safety issues that were addressed, that the things that you’re looking for corrective action on are essentially, we’ll just call it cosmetic. I don’t think that those should be a reason to not move forward with an entirely different project in a different part of town because I think we need desperately to have more affordable housing options.”
Council member Naomi Duerr said that while some of these may be designated “minor” issues, they were not minor to her.
“Some of [the issues] are things like fire extinguishers, and that’s not minor to me,” Duerr said. “That’s very important that the life safety issues be addressed up front and be kept current. Whether it’s a smoke detector, a fire extinguisher, the sprinkler system — any of those fire issues I think need to be taken seriously.”
Duerr added that if staff hadn’t gone out, these issues may have continued to occur, which could be life threatening.
Duerr also said that the issue with trash piling up has been occurring for four years, which has nothing to do with Waste Management “other than they need to do their job.” Even though they have hired someone new to take the trash out on the weekends, Duerr said, a recheck was conducted on Monday which indicated the trash was still backed up and overflowing.
“Maybe it just needs to get dialed in: new process, new procedures,” she said.
She said there has been a lot of “minimizing” from other members of the council, but that she has been dealing with “some very significant issues” at Vintage at the Crossings for four years. She said REMSA couldn’t get into the building, that the fire sprinklers weren’t working, and trash was stacked up “four stories high.”
“Still, today, the doors don’t work,” Duerr said. “That is letting in unhoused people and people that don’t live there allegedly involved in drugs. Rent went up from $900 a month to $2,300 with a 30-day notice, which is not appropriate, it’s not within our 5% increase; it’s way out of line.”
Duerr said she had to personally call the state and FPI Management before it was remedied. “Until this moment I haven’t really seen these things addressed,” she said. “What is our role even as council members in advocating for our tenants? … It’s our job to hear our tenants.”
Brekhus said that if there was not a “retaliatory scheme” against her, she could have sat with staff to understand what compliance processes are.
“They set up a very substantial program, but I haven’t been able to meet with any mid-level staff in three years, but you have, and there’s options to understand solutions to this internally, because it’s an internal issue,” Brekhus said. “That internal work is what should be going on.”
She then said they were getting “astray” from the issue at hand, stating “it’s either an up or down vote.”
Reese said that while he agrees with Duerr that buildings need to be kept in compliance, there likely isn’t a single building in Reno where some of the fire extinguishers are not in compliance. “It’s the nature of a piece of equipment that has to be routinely checked.”
He said that if people are complaining about their living situations, though, the council needs to be listening to them.
“we really don’t have these problems on the family projects … It seems like it’s really a senior issue.”
Duerr asked that people not minimize the issues because a man died two years ago at Vintage after a storm knocked out power, which caused the elevators to stop working, and he had to take the stairs. He fell, and later died.
“That’s a death,” Duerr said. “That’s not minimal. I’m just expressing that they are now going to install a generator, and it is on order …. These are the impacts to tenants that are not in their mind and are not a discomfort. These are serious … It’s not just that a fire extinguisher is out of date.”
Brekhus asked how the city can make sure that they are not providing tax-credit projects on buildings that have design flaws. Fisher said she wasn’t sure legally what they’d need to do, but that they could start having discussions internally to figure out an avenue.
She added that the city needs to look at other ways to ensure when the city provides fee reductions for developments that the properties are inspected and tenants are represented.
Many problems blamed on tenants
Hillyard said after the September meeting his team went to Vintage at the Crossings where they did see some defects and issues, but they had expected it to be worse based on public comment provided.
Hillyard said FPI and Vintage have conducted “massive inspections,” and are working on the problems.
However, Hillyard said, a lot of the issues they were seeing were caused by residents, such as complaints about other residents’ activities, people disabling door alarms and propping doors open with rocks which allowed other individuals to enter the building.
He said unfortunately, these issues are typical in developments with a lot of seniors.
“I think a lot of the seniors have a lot more time on their hands, and apparently, we’re not sure why, they’re propping the doors open at night,” Hillyard said. “All these things, we’re trying to manage it, but it’s not easy.
“There’s about 2,500 units in the Vintage portfolio that we have developed, and we really don’t have these problems on the family projects. The family projects have people that are working and don’t have a lot of time on their hands. It seems like it’s really a senior issue,” he said.
Hillyard said what FPI is doing is “everything we’re learning here, they’re taking across all of the projects, things like the carpet cleaning. Now, every community is getting a professional carpet cleaning once a year, minimum.”
Brekhus said if there are ongoing issues with senior properties, then Vintage should implement better on-site management. “Maybe you should talk to staff,” she said.
Council member Meghan Ebert said council should consider delaying approval for another two weeks to maintain motivation in fixing the problems. That didn’t happen. Council members moved forward with unanimous approval of the $1.46 million in sewer fee reductions.
Duerr said she hopes she doesn’t have to continue visiting Vintage at the Crossings to respond to tenant complaints or she’ll be right back in front of Vintage and FPI to resolve the issues.
