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REGULAR MEETING February 25, 2019
<br /> what we are working toward and we have been in close communication with her staff as we've
<br /> formed our City's lead strategy. She also has a great deal of experience working with programs of
<br /> this nature and we think she can offer some constructive comments.
<br /> Ruth Ann Norton, President and CEO of The Green and Healthy Homes Initiative with offices
<br /> located at 2714 Hudson Street,Baltimore,MD,served as a presenter of this bill.Ms.Norton stated,
<br /> We were founded in 1986. My parents and other property owners came together to combat the
<br /> issue of childhood lead poisoning in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, where we were named the
<br /> number one (1) city in the world for the concentration of lead poisoned children at the time. As I
<br /> stand here today, we have reduced lead poisoning by ninety-nine percent (99%). We've worked
<br /> with over sixty(60) cities in forty-eight (48) states to advance policies and practices that take into
<br /> account the role of the property owner, homeowner and resident as we work to improve the
<br /> outcomes for children in this country and to address the toxic legacy of lead. We want to turn
<br /> around what we face in having to deal with essential maintenance practices in aging housing stock.
<br /> We want to turn that into an opportunity for kids to get to the classroom healthy and ready to learn.
<br /> I've taken a long time to look at the proposal here which I think is really fair and thought out well
<br /> in having to address these issues. Let me tell you a couple of quick things I think are critically
<br /> important. In city after city, county after county, where we have helped implement or have
<br /> supported pro-rental inspections of this kind,it's not only that kids are healthier. Families are more
<br /> stable. We see a high return on investment to the community because every dollar we invest in
<br /> lead poisoning in this country, we get up to two hundred and twenty-one dollars ($221) in return
<br /> to communities. What we have also seen is that owners are better. The properties for owners are
<br /> better. The investment being made in the rental property becomes a healthier market. That has
<br /> been especially true in small to midsized cities as well as larger cities throughout the country. So,
<br /> I think this is a critically important thing to point out. The data, across the board, shows we had
<br /> higher investment, higher compliance and better outcomes for kids. It helps create a standardized
<br /> marketplace, and a standardized way of delivering safe and healthy housing. It is critically
<br /> important. This really gets to a better and a more equitable treatment of tenants. It takes away
<br /> things like evictions because of complaints or fear to report. Instead, it gets us to a healthier
<br /> business relationship. So, I think you are also giving better power of taking care of the problems
<br /> in the community by being able to address this by the priority of problems. Then, you phase in
<br /> geographically. I really want to applaud this community. I said to the Council President, I travel
<br /> all over the country and the civic engagement on this is really something to take great pride in. I
<br /> think it's very important to acknowledge the responsible property owners who are supporting this
<br /> and helping to inform. But I think, in the end, no matter where we are and in what community, we
<br /> have a moral obligation around housing conditions to ensure that children have a safe,healthy and
<br /> stable environment in which to lay their heads down at night,breathe because the house is healthy
<br /> and to be able to think and excel in the classroom. I don't want to spend much more time because
<br /> I think you are going to hear from a lot of people on this, but I think this has been extremely well
<br /> thought out about the ability to empower what needs to happen to those properties that have been
<br /> causing problems. This lifts up the entire community and thinks in a forward way about the
<br /> children and families in South Bend. I appreciate you allowing me to be a part of the process and
<br /> observe this and I am available to answer questions if need be. Thank you.
<br /> Councilmember Oliver Davis stated,Thank you. I like what you're doing.The question I have has
<br /> been asked of me. Since we are, in a sense, eliminating the HUD houses and everything that is
<br /> through the housing authority out of this kind of a bill, for people who live in situations that are in
<br /> those types of settings, since they are still in the City of South Bend,we all in our community have
<br /> heard of different issues that have been going on with our local housing authority, how do we
<br /> address that? What are we going to do? As we were looking at it today and the conversation of the
<br /> group homes and that concept, including this process, it made me think about that from that
<br /> standpoint. So, what do we do when we have families living in that? And just to call the housing
<br /> authority board and they say they'll look into it, again, a lot of people have issues with how that's
<br /> been dealt with and solved. Even the Mayor made comments about that not long ago. So, what are
<br /> your thoughts?
<br /> Ms. Fritzberg replied,Two(2)points. First(Pt),this ordinance,even though it does create a waiver
<br /> exemption for those properties that receive an external inspection, does not take us away from the
<br /> complaint-based process. So, Code can still take a complaint from a tenant of any property in the
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