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6. NEW BUSINESS (Cont'd does not do the inspections in this program; Housing Allowance does it. The rehabilitation is done to qualify these places for the Housing Allowance Program. Lengthy discussions followed with Mr. John R. Kagel, Executive Director, Downtown South Bend Council, asking numerous questions involving the properties being rehabilitated and what records, studies and /or data are available on the various histories of the property as to whether they were rental properties, owner - occupied or both in the past, times vacant, land contract prior to the 12 -month residency requirement, a complete run -down on the homes before it is considered for rehabilita- tion, improper use of the home through South Bend Water Works cut -off information, etc. Mr. Crighton advised that as far as these people qualifying for our program, we get referrals from the Housing Allowance Program for both renters and homeowners. The Housing Allowance Program does not differ- entiate between the two in the applications for their program. However, because the only persons that are eligible receive assistance through our various projects have to be owner- occupants, we process occupancy verification to determine, in fact, that they are the owner and occu- pant of the structure and have been for the past 12 months at least. It could have been a rental property previous to the date of the ap- plication. There would be no way to determine how long the homes previous to the residency requirement may have been rented for a portion of the period and the homeowner living in it himself, as the owner would be listed on the records. The problem in obtaining all of the information Mr. Kagel requests on each home is obviously man - hours. We do not have the staff to run down each structure and what has happened to it over the years. The Planning Bureau in our Com- munity Development Department is in the process of determining what the use of the properties have been, or change in use over the years just prior to the initiation of the project in that area. He suggested for a given area Mr. Kagel contact the Planning Bureau and they may be able to supply him with information concerning the ownership. Commissioner Wiggins made the comparison of roof repairs to those made by insurance companies, and that when a windstorm tears up some shingles and water leaks into the house, all they would take care of is the place where it is leaking. They wouldn't put a new roof on and all the rest we are talking about here. Mr. Crighton said it is the opinion of the HUD Area Office that once a roof starts leaking, and, if it is not due to puncture, (let's say a tree falling into it, or something like that), but the roof has deter- iorated to the point where it will start leaking some place else, that's considered an incipient violation by Mr. Norman Clifton, Chief of the Program Planning and Support Branch. Mr. Clifton has advised us that in these types of situations, it is best to replace the entire roof, rather than pate a job that will not last, whereas a new roof will last for approximately 20 years. Mr. Kagel added that he and others have similar type questions and the information would be interesting to have. They are not as inter- ested in a given area, but more in pieces of property that may be