Well, here we go, some of the issues I have raised about affordable housing on Allied Drive, the property the City bought there and how the city will handle Allied Drive redevelopment are finally coming to a head. Two things have happened recently, that have Allied Drive residents on edge.
First, was when Jeff Meyer, of Able Management (coincidentally, the property manager that the City hired to manage the properties we bought) exercised some poor judgement and served eviction notices and non-renewal notices on 3 buildings full of people, 14 families in all. (These were not the City owned buildings.)
Second, was when the City handed out an “Issues Statements and Proposed City Review Criteria Related to the City-Owned Properties on Allied Drive” document that said, “At least fifty percent, or a critical mass, of the housing units should be owner-occupied.”
So, Allied Drive residents held a press conference yesterday, asking the City (City Council and the Mayor) to make a commitment to make sure that as the community redevelops, that they are not priced out of the neighborhood. Here’s some of the background.
JEFF MEYER/ABLE MANAGEMENT
The City has been having problems with police calls and lack of repairs on three buildings on Allied Drive. The properties have changed hands and the City was pursuing a nuisance abatement process and as a result were asking them to evict three problem tenants. Instead of dealing with the folks who were causing problems, the owner, through its management company first gave eviction notices to everyone they could give them to. Then, the next day, they sent notices to all the month to month tenants ending their tenancy by giving them a 28-day notice to leave, ending the leases with all 14 households.
One has to ask, what kind of landlord does this in December? Yes, it might be legal, but what was this experienced manager thinking? This manager has been working in Allied Drive for years and had to have known this wasn’t a very politic thing to do.
Anyways, turns out now, after intervention from the Mayor’s office, that several of the families can stay and they have extended the time for others to move. Plus, the Allied Drive Task Force has decided to use their $4,500 to help the families that have to move. (However, they gave the money to the Community Action Coalition and clients who use this money will be prohibited from getting housing assistance from that agency for another 2 years, which is absurd. This money should be exempt from their program requirements.)
Hopefully, this situation will partially resolve itself. Tho, if you were one of the families that just went through this whole mess, I’m sure that even if it is resolved, it has caused a whole lot of unnecessary stress during this holiday season. I can’t believe someone who exercises such poor judgement is managing the Cities properties in this area. Maybe that’s why there are less than 50 families left there.
50% HOMEOWNERSHIP
Since day one, residents of Allied Drive have been asking, when the neighborhood gets all these improvements, will I be priced out of the neighborhood? Are these improvements for us, or for people who will move here in the future?
Good questions. No answers.
And a partial answer, came in the form of a statement drafted by someone in the City that said that at least 50% of the new units would be owner-occupied. To many Allied Drive residents this translates to “I’m being pushed out of my neighborhood”.
The bigger question is who in the City made this decision? And why has it taken so long to answer the residents questions about this? I suspect, it is because, as one of my colleagues said, “Why don’t we just tell the residents the truth, this isn’t going to be affordable, we can’t afford it.” (I can’t believe that made it into my blog!)
I’m still waiting to see numbers connected to the three designs that the architects came up with to determine if it will be feasible to be affordable or not. We need that information sooner rather than later. I continue to think it was a big mistake to tell the architects to just design the building, regardless of what the affordability is, and that we would figure out how to finance it later. When doing affordable housing, you need to use every tool you have to make it more affordable, starting with design.
We need to get answers to the residents questions, this has been going on long enough and we shouldn’t be part of the stress on these residents during the holiday season.
