10-09-18 Community Relations - Laserfiche WebLink

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK assets. What we do know is that in minority neighborhoods, if they have any wealth, it is almost all concentrated in the equity of their home, disproportionately to Whites. We also know that the majority of Whites who buy homes had help from their parents whether it was with a down payment or a loan. That is not true with African American families. That is because if you go back fifty (50) years, African Americans couldn't buy homes in South Bend whether it was from redlining or zoning issues, or covenants in the deed. So they didn't have that generational wealth to pass on. She went on, I also want to talk about the process. There are a lot of people I haven't been able to help because they didn't follow the process correctly. This is because they didn't understand it. So, a Code Enforcement officer goes out and finds a violation and issues a notice or a ticket. If it is just a ticket, you can challenge it, but there is typically a hearing if there is going to be a demolition or if there are a lot of violations. In the hearing, you go in to talk about the situation. First (1St) of all, the mistake people make is that they don't show up to the hearing. If there is an order issued in the hearing, like a demolition order or if they have tried to contact you ten (10) times and you're not responding so they are going to ask for a penalty, there is a certain amount of time in which you can appeal, but if you don't appeal in that two (2) week period of time, no lawyer in the world can challenge that. Secondly, it is not the City that determines the amount you are going to pay,it is the judge. I've been in many Cities where the City has recommended no fine, and the judge determines that they should owe a higher amount. So to some extent,the City doesn't have the control over this that some people think they do. The judge makes the determination on the amount. Then once there is a determination, if you have an appeal and it goes to collections, you can't challenge the amount in a collections situation. It is then just a matter of whether or not you are going to pay. One(1)of the most important things is staying in communication with Code and to show up at your hearings. That can go a long way for those types of things. This is not a unique problem to South Bend. There is a joke going around in property circles and it goes like this: the Whites are moving to the neighborhood, there goes the neighborhood. Gentrification is the message of the day. The problem we are seeing U is that the developers that go in and build housing are not interested in building affordable housing or low-income housing. So if we get rid of all of that housing, because it is in very poor condition, there is nowhere for people to go. And what we know about South Bend is that between last year and this year, while the population has increased, the number of households has decreased. We have more people living on couches with friends and neighbors. People are not able to set up a household because affordable housing is a problem. The challenge is to find a way to save the houses that can be saved and find ways to help people who want to stay in their neighborhood,be able to make the necessary repairs. What I don't want, and I don't think the City wants it either, is for people to be living in unsafe conditions. So, we don't want to tell Code Enforcement, we're poor, or we're Black or Hispanic, so it's ok for us to live in substandard housing. That is not the message we want to send. We want to try to find ways to improve that housing. Committee Chair Williams-Preston stated,That was a nice overview of the problem.This is multi- faceted. Banks are not lending, there is a legacy of discrimination, we're in a situation where people of color have fewer assets. That is a problem that is not easily overcome. Tonight, we're here to talk about what we can do as a City government. One (1) thing I found in my experience is that showing up is key. I always showed up. I also wrote letters and emails. We had three (3) Code Enforcement directors in the period of time we were having issues. So there were a lot of issues in terms of turnover and leadership, and trying to understand all of the differences. We also went through a transition between paper records and digitizing everything, which was important, EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend.Indiana 46601 p 574 235 9221 f 574.235 9173 111)574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5