Council receives update on lead, rental registries
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Multiple things are always ongoing in the city's Department of Development, and at the most recent meeting of the City Council's Housing Committee, Development Director Crystal Surdyk gave an update on some of the current things going on.
One such thing is the lead rental registry being done in partnership with the county. The county has rolled out the state mandated information to their landlords, and Surdyk said the city will then start receiving a spike in rental registrations in the city as well, which she noted to be a good thing.
"We're anticipating some registrations, and with that some inspections to come along," Surdyk said. "It's going really well; our partnership with the county is going very well. It's allowing us to streamline things and give us access to properties that we maybe would not have easy access to."
The way the process works, Surdyk said, is the county has to complete their lead inspections, which is a little bit more of a comprehensive inspection, though not the same level as a code enforcement inspection. The inspection allows the county to get eyes on the property and then give the city referrals if needed. Surdyk also briefly talked about the city's lead poisoning prevention coordinator through the grant funding in partnership with the county, who used to be the Healthy Homes Production coordinator.
"Very similar work, very similar project management and it's through the state as well, so she's familiar with all of the reporting and all of the things that go on with it," Surdyk said. "So that is moving along and in the meantime round one of the Healthy Homes Production grant is coming to a close, so she is wrapping up. I think she has just two projects with minor things to close out, and in the meantime we are looking at applying for another round of Healthy Homes Production funding."
The city also has a technical assistance grant from the state, which Surdyk said the scope of is split into two things; a focus on housing court and hiring an attorney, and the other for a consultant manager type position. That individual was set to help the city with 19A properties and everything involved in that, though Surdyk said since the city has received the funding they have gotten rid of almost all of the 19A properties. They are looking to reallocate that funding with the state towards the housing attorney related work.
Surdyk also discussed ARPA funded roof projects with the housing committee, along with another grant, Restore 60 +, which targeted senior citizens in the city and doing repairs and renovations for them. The DOD is also in the midst of their vacant rental property grant, bringing rental properties that were vacant for whatever reason back online and creating more housing.
The DOD continues to look for more funding for infrastructure, infill and new housing construction. The county is also planning a developer forum geared towards housing for October.
"If you recall we did a forum last April, not this past April but a year ago," Surdyk said. "We're looking at and we've been invited to participate in that and then any opportunity we might have for a follow up tour of Jamestown specifically. We'll be meeting with our county partners to discuss that in the near future."
State Housing and Urban Development representatives are also expected to be in the city later this month. Two roundtables are expected with them, one to discuss housing related issues and opportunities and the other to specifically discuss a HUD program that has been run for a few years and how the city can take advantage of that.
Surdyk then talked about the county auction, saying the city is still waiting on confirmation as to who bought what. The city did not successfully pull any properties this year, and Surdyk added they are still struggling with the county auction process.
Returning to the lead program inspection conversation, Surdyk talked a bit more about the process and what properties are being prioritized as they are where children are potentially in danger from lead. The funding for that program is something the city applies for every year.
"A lot of the problems we see city-wide and generationally are caused by lead poisoning," Surdyk said. "We have populations of people that are stuck in a cycle of poverty and mental health issues, disability, and will never be able to reach their earning potential because they were lead poisoned as children; I don't know how else to say it. It perpetuates the drug problems that we have; it perpetuates the poverty problems that we have; it perpetuates the cleanliness of these houses and the condition of the houses that we're dealing with. It is probably the foremost biggest issue that if we can get this under control a lot of other things will start to get better."
Surdyk noted that the lead poisoning issues are through no fault of the children or their parents, and probably not even their parents' parents. She said it is something that has set the city back and that they are currently in the third generation of dealing with it, with Jamestown coming in as the seventh highest city with occurrences of lead poisoning in children in the state.
"And that is really scary," Surdyk said. "We can talk all we want about our economy, and the poverty levels and education and all of the things that go along with it, but if we aren't addressing the root of the problem -- and it's not the only problem but it is a big part of the problem -- we might as well be doing nothing. I don't really mean that specifically, but it is bad."