08-02-17 Community Relations - Laserfiche WebLink

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Enforcement, you may be able to have those penalties dismissed. Please call the Community Forum for Economic Justice at 574-222-4966 to get help. Emmanuel Cannady, 311 E. Colfax Street, stated, I want to thank Regina for having me and it has been very powerful to hear some of the stories you have shared. I've been in South Bend for five (5) years but am from Wisconsin. I am used to the environment that has been described and I've asked myself how I can give back and how I can use my degree to embolden communities to get the retributive justice they deserve. This conversation can't be stopped and will not be stopped. It is up to us as a community to drive the message home that we matter. When I do this work I don't only do it with my mind, I do it with my heart. Our survey is titled `South Bend's neglected neighborhoods: A study on environmental inequities and the affects of perceptions of self.' It is a two (2) or three (3)part survey. We are first going to go to each individual community and ask individuals to take surveys, and then have focus groups after that. My favorite part is that this survey will be distributed by members of that specific community. The focus groups are intended to get to the core of the community structure and how that has an impact on physical and mental health. This really relies on the community and please let us know what more we can do to help. Anne Mannix, 724 W. Washington Street, stated, I live about three (3) blocks from here and my background is in city planning. My goal is to look at the neighborhoods as a whole and look at what is needed. I've always been in favor of low-income people. I worked in housing for about thirty (3 0) years doing different things in housing. If you try to build a house with new construction, it could cost upward of$175,000 to build when it would only sell for$70,000 or $80,000 on the market. It is hard to make these affordable and you would have to find a way to reduce the mortgage costs on that home if you want to keep it owner-occupied. Affordable housing needs to be available for those making $35,000-$40,000. Individuals making any less than that have difficulty owning a home because things break and they don't have cash on hand right away to fix it. Individuals making less than$30,000 need affordable options as well. There is a project I worked on that is a land cooperative where all the homeowners own them all together, and that model works. All federal housing programs have income limits. One (1)thing a neighborhood needs is a range of incomes. We asked the City to construct the new houses but write down the mortgages and ask for what the houses are going to be appraised for. We proposed that to the City and they have not said yes or no. We said one hundred (100) houses to make it big. The idea is to match incomes with mortgage values and to keep homeowners in the neighborhoods. We are also waiting for the market study to be done by the City. Committee Chair Williams-Preston stated, The City gave $5 million to one (1) developer for luxury apartments. We are only asking for$6 million to help one hundred(100) families. I don't think that is too much to ask for. Josh Ar6valo, 104 E. Jefferson Boulevard, stated, Rehabilitation is expensive only because a contractor says a price and the City pays it. What we want is development without displacement. We need intelligent and green rehabilitation. That means when the rehabilitation is happening, the family remains in the home. There are major components to rehabilitation. The roof, siding, windows, ceilings, air systems, electrical, plumbing, foundation and landscaping are all the basic components to rehabilitation and can be done in a green and intelligent way, without 6