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iv CITY OF SOUTH BEND OFFICE OF THE CLERK Services for older people. One(1) of the things I've done is develop a list of resources that we put on the hearing table in front of anyone who comes in to speak to our Code Enforcement during the hearing process. They can take the form if they want to and reach out to those resources themselves. We don't ask their back story, we don't ask how much money they make or other personal questions like that, however, the hearing officer will ask what their plan is. Oftentimes when people say they don't have money to turn their utilities back on, I try to discreetly meet with that person in the hallway to talk about resources that might be available to them. We even have a few inspectors that met with individuals at their residence to ask if they've thought about applying for grants.We find that oftentimes the house is in such a state of disrepair,that they've been turned down for the grants because all of the funding for that specific grant would have been used on that specific house. If you have a roof with a hole in it, it does a lot of damage to the inside of the house. These great organizations have to spread the wealth among a lot of people, and they can't just invest it in one (1) person. That puts us in a difficult situation, because we have neighbors complaining about a specific house that is in disrepair,but we know that we have a person in there who can't afford to make those repairs. We see those issues on a daily basis. We've worked with Community Investment to come up with a list of resources as well. This year, we worked with Rebuilding Together, which has been fantastic. I even called a high school friend whose father is in charge of a local union group here in town and begged him to help someone on Olive Street repair their roof. That's not really part of our job in Code Enforcement,but we know that there is a gap that we need to address. We know there is a need to work with our residents who are in need and can't financially or physically make repairs. I have noticed that there seems to be an issue with people who are skilled at repairs, like contractors and things in our areas. I've heard from residents that they can't get anyone to come to their house. Notre Dame is taking all of the skilled contractors, and if they do get them to come to their houses, they take the deposit and then never come back to make the repairs. Again, they look to Code Enforcement as to what we can do to help them. It is a sticky situation for us to be in. While I do agree that civil penalties are not necessarily the answer in all cases, we have those landlords who are charging people rent to live in these homes. Those are the owners for which it would be appropriate to ask for civil penalties. If you are charging people rent to live in substandard conditions, we have to do something to try to get that person to repair their property if they are going to continue to rent that property out. So you have the homeowners that are trying to do the best they can to repair their houses, and you also have those landlords who maybe are not doing enough. I can tell you over the last eighteen (18) months, we have been doing the best we can to try to figure out who is who, and try to best help South Bend as a whole. We want it to be a safe, clean place for everybody to live, work and visit. I think we're on the same page here, but what I ask from you, as a representative of Code Enforcement, is that if you have suggestions for the situations we find ourselves in trying to help people, let us know what we can do to help these people who are struggling. Committee Chair Williams-Preston stated, You are doing such a nice job. I would like you to talk about neighborhood cleanups, how that's connected, and how on their own, your inspectors are building relationships with neighborhood associations. Ms. Skibins stated, Since January through October, a lot of the inspectors have attended neighborhood meetings. They've been to twenty-one (21) events. Some of those include neighborhood cleanups. Code Enforcement supplies the gloves, trash bags, and we collect all of the debris that is collected afterwards. We work with the neighborhood associations and they are responsible for recruiting the volunteers. If you call and say you have twenty (20) volunteers coming out on a random Saturday, we will show up and pick up the trash with you, collect EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 9