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City, County Land Bank Plan Continued Push To Rehab Eyesores Next Year

Before and after photos of a house on Clyde Avenue in Jamestown, which was one of the houses purchased by the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation for their Rehabs 4 Sale Program. The land bank has acquired 74 dilapidated houses for the program, with 25 rehabs completed and 47 in the process of being sold and renovated. Submitted photos

County and city officials will be continue their fight against blight on several fronts in 2017.

For the Chautauqua County Land Bank Corporation, that fight will continue through their Rehabs 4 Sale program and the demolition of condemned properties. Gina Paradis, land bank executive director, said they will determine what they will be able to do in 2017 once they know how much funding they will receive from the State Attorney General’s Office.

In November, Eric Schneiderman, state attorney general, announced that there is $20 million in new funding available for state land banks to use toward protecting homeowners and neighborhoods by acquiring blighted houses to tear them down or rehabilitating them into community assets.

Since 2013, the state has provided more than $33 million to land banks with funding secured through settlements from the nation’s largest banks over misconduct that contributed to the housing crisis. This latest funding, made possible by settlements announced earlier this year with Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, will be offered through a competitive request for proposals to the state’s original 10 land banks as well as the newest eight land banks, which have formed during the last year.

Paradis said the funding they have received from the state attorney general is their main source of funding. She said once again the county land bank will be applying for state funds. During the first round of funding in 2013, when there was $13 million available for state land banks, the county received $1.5 million. During the second round of funding from the state attorney general in 2014, when there was $20 million available for state land banks, the county received $1.3 million.

”It will be much more competitive this year for the grant funding. The overall pot of money is smaller. At most, we can ask for $1.5 million, and that is over a two-year period, from 2017 to 2019,” she said. ”(The state) will probably set-aside a portion (of the funding) for the new land banks and the rest of us, who have been in the program for awhile, will be competing for the rest of the funding.”

Paradis said, since receiving the state attorney general funding, the county land bank has completed more than 75 demolitions, with an additional five in Dunkirk, six in Jamestown, and four rural demolitions to be completed by the first quarter of 2017. A total of $2 million in state Attorney General grant funding was leveraged with Community Development Block Grant funding in Dunkirk and Jamestown to complete more than 50 additional demolitions in Dunkirk and Jamestown.

Paradis said to date, the land bank has acquired 74 properties for the program, with 25 rehabs being completed and 47 in the process of being sold or renovated.

”The program usually takes about 18 months,” Paradis said. ”We try to put a timeline of one year on the rehab from the time we purchase it, usually through the county auction, to selling the property to someone who will rehabilitate and complete the renovation,” she said. ”We usually acquire them in August and sell them by November. Usually by the end of the following year, the rehab will be completed. Some times we give people an extension if they run into things that were unexpected.”

Paradis said they will also be completing a couple new grants for next year. She said it is likely the land bank will be granted a couple of AmeriCorps workers for next year, who will work for the land bank from Dec. 1 to Sept. 30. She said one worker will be focused on community outreach and the other on data compilation.

”Hopefully they will help expand our efforts in the coming year,” Paradis said.

In 2017, the city will be funded $150,000 to combat zombie properties. In October, Schneiderman announced grant awards totaling $12.6 million to help 76 cities, towns and villages address the problem of vacant properties and so-called ”zombie homes,” which are vacant and abandoned homes that are not maintained during a prolonged foreclosure proceeding.

In July, Schneiderman announced the start of the Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative program that will provide grants to local governments throughout the state through a competitive application process.

The 100 state communities with the greatest zombie and vacant housing problems were invited to apply for the funds, with Jamestown being one of those communities.

In August, Vince DeJoy, city development director, said city officials were invited by Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which is the organization that will allocate the state grant funding to municipalities, to apply for $100,000 to $150,000 in funding, of which city officials applied for $149,970. In October, city officials discovered they received the full amount of funding they had applied for through the Zombie Remediation and Prevention Initiative program.

DeJoy said the funding the city received will go toward outreach to prevent homeowners from mortgage issues. He said through brochures and other communication methods, they will inform homeowners about who to contact and what to do if they start to have problems paying their mortgage to prevent future foreclosures.

The grant would also go toward tracking zombie houses in the city through the software program MyGov, said DeJoy. MyGov is the web-based government and community development software program assisting city code enforcement officers with their duties. The software program will allow all involved in the city’s development office to access information easier because it will be streamlined. The program will also help mobilize code officers daily on which houses they need to continue tracking. He said by using the MyGov software program, city officials will be able to create a map that will indicate the location of zombie house in the city.

The state funding will also go toward hiring a lawyer who will dedicate their time to city housing issues. The lawyer will work with the city Development Department to work with banks on the foreclosure process. The lawyer will also try to recoup money from past homeowners for code violations and expenses like grass cutting fees.

”We’re excited to get the program up and running,” DeJoy told Jamestown City Council in November. ”We will be able to go after people in court with the attorney that we will be able to hire (with state funding). Those who owe the city money for demolitions or other fees.”

Marie Carrubba, Ward 4 councilwoman and Housing committee chairwoman, said the monthly housing reports DeJoy provides to council members the MyGov housing report system has been helpful in giving direction in how to fight blight in the city.

In March, DeJoy started delivering monthly reports to the Housing Committee created through the MyGov system. MyGov is the web-based government and community development software program assisting city code enforcement officers with their duties. The software program will allow all involved in the city’s development office to access information easier because it will be streamlined. The program will also help mobilize code officers daily on which houses they need to continue tracking.

”The MyGov reports provide comprehensive information about the types and locations of complaints, the property owner of record, the dates the complaints were received, any steps or actions taken to resolve the complaints and the current status, and which (Department of Development) employee is providing oversight for the complaint. The MyGov reporting system has streamlined the process and made it easier to track complaints and follow through on resolving the problems,” Carrubba said. ”In many instances, the complaints start with nuisance types of problems. If (Department of Development) is able to address smaller code violations at the outset, it can prevent them from turning into much bigger problems in the neighborhoods. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough funds to adequately staff (Department of Development) to deal with the number of complaints they receive in that department. The land bank and (Department of Development) have done a great job in finding enthusiastic buyers who have saved and rehabilitated some homes with good structures, which have improved the neighborhoods. They have also had to address some of the worst problems through demolition of properties that can’t be salvaged or rehabilitated.”

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