Problem Properties Collaborative

Federal Reserve Events

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Memphis branch, will host a presentation on Local Crime and Local Business Cycles, by Fed economist Thomas Garrett, citing the relationship between crime and local business cycles.  The presentation will be held December 9, at the Holiday Inn - University of Memphis at 8:00 - 11:00 am.  Link below for more information. Download local_crime_and_business_cycles.pdf

Also, on Tuesday, October 28, the Fed will present a forum on What Now?  Baby Boomers and Communities Face New Realities, also at the Holiday Inn - University of Memphis. Download baby_boomer_forum_registration.pdf

Finally, the Fed has announced the dates for its 2008 Exploring Innovation conference, which will be April 22- 24, 2009 in St. Louis.

Strengthening Communities Grant

The Community Foundation and the University of Memphis have announced the release of the 2009 Strengthening Communities Request for Proposals.  This year they will be accepting proposals for both the Capacity-Building Grants and Small Grants categories.  You can find full guidelines and proposal submission forms on the Strengthening Communities web site, by clicking here.

Prospective applicants must attend a MANDATORY interest meeting to be eligible, on Wednesday,   October 29, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. at the University of Memphis Alumni Center

The Strengthening Communities Initiative is funded in collaboration with the University of Memphis, the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis and the United Way of the Mid-South.

The deadline for submitting a request is January 30, 2009 at 4:30 p.m.  If you need additional information, please contact Tracy Hartsfield with the Strengthening Communities Initiative at strengthencommunities@memphis.edu or 901.678.2614.

Youthbuild Grants

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has approximately $47 million in grant funds available for YouthBuild Grants to be awarded through a competitive process. As part of their programming, YouthBuild grantees will utilize disadvantaged youth to increase the supply of permanent affordable housing for homeless individuals and low-income families and to help youth develop leadership, learning, and high-demand occupational skills. Applications are due January 15, 2009. Full announcement: http://www.doleta.gov/grants/find_grants.cfm.

Home Depot Housing Impact Grants

This quarterly grants program is designed to assist North American nonprofit organizations whose projects involve affordable housing built responsibly in a timely manner. Projects that seek to build or rebuild affordable housing will be eligible for grants of $1,000 to $3,000 each. Preference will be given to projects that integrate sustainability. The Housing Impact Grants program now fully aligns with the Home Depot Foundation's Affordable Housing Built Responsibly program. Applications may be submitted from November 1 to December 15, 2008. Web: http://corporate.homedepot.com/wps/portal/Grants.

New Resource: PolicyMap

The Reinvestment Fund in Philadelphia has launched PolicyMap, a website that combines sophisticated technology and the best analytical tools to deliver a new level of accessibility to data related to  demographics, real estate markets, money and income, education, crime and more.

Functionality and data includes:

• Custom thematic maps, key to really looking at neighborhood level data
• Reports related to home sales, mortgage trends, and IRS data
• Updated crime statistics, immigration data, and updated HMDA data.

 Much of the data is free, with enhanced data available on a subscription basis.

PPC Meeting for November

The next Problem Properties Collaborative meeting will be Monday November 3, 2008 at 5:30PM at the Urban Child Institute 600 Jefferson Conference Room 2. Please RSVP here

The Brookings Institute on Community Leadership

ur nation's inner cities are grappling with a host of highly complex problems and lack adequate economic resources to solve them. Eroding infrastructures, inadequate housing and health care, failing schools, unsafe streets, and high unemployment are some of the issues that a panel of new urban leaders will discuss at a day-long conference at the Brookings Institution. Joyce Ladner, a Brookings senior fellow, will host some of the nation's most effective urban problem solvers, discussing their best practices in coping with the nation's most critical urban problems through sustainable community development. For more on this article, please click here...

Problem Properties Collaborative Mission and Platform

 

The mission of the Problem Properties Collaborative is to support innovative code enforcement strategies and other neighborhood revitalization initiatives in Memphis through active and ongoing involvement of community-based organizations to promote and support healthy and vibrant neighborhoods.

The purpose of the Problem Properties Collaborative is to:   

• Educate and support community based organizations to participate fully in a proactive strategy for code enforcement and other anti-blight initiatives;
• Provide research support on problem properties, foreclosure, affordable housing, and other issues related to urban blight;
• Facilitate discussion and dissemination of best practices through local research and national partnerships such as the National Vacant Properties Campaign.
• Coordinate grassroots support for changes in policies, procedures, ordinances, and statutes that strengthen anti-blight outcomes and implement performance-based accountability systems

PPC Platform: Working Discussions
 

MemphisThe Problem Properties Collaborative supports implementation of a comprehensive and strategic anti-blight and code-enforcement initiative, which would be closely coordinated with a more systematic affordable housing strategy for Memphis.In pursuit of this end, the PPC advocates a ten point platform, detailed below. This platform is based on over five years of research (largely in collaboration with the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission and local foundations), as well as residents’ experience with code enforcement and other anti-blight activities, including:
1) a detailed analysis of the local Anti-Neglect Housing Code; local code enforcement policies, procedures, and programs; and a systematic review of actual code enforcement histories on a sample of residential properties in Memphis;
2) intensive study of national best practices and technical assistance from the National Vacant Properties Campaign;
3) participation by several PPC representatives on the Joint Lipscomb-Gibbons task force on Problem Properties; and very importantly;
4) ongoing input from community residents and community-based organizations with day-to-day, on the ground experience with code enforcement issues (including CDCs and neighborhood associations)

 

The Ten Point Platform

 

1. Accountability: Expectations for accountability, with clearly articulated, outcomes-based performance standards for code enforcement offices and activities. 
2. Proactive Code Enforcement: A comprehensive audit of property conditions, property ownership, and other factors such as tax delinquency for every parcel in Shelby County that      would be updated in real time using public access information technology systems for mapping, monitoring changes in property status, and tracking progress of code enforcement and other anti-blight actions. Would replace current complaint-driven system.
3. Systems Reform: Identification and removal of specific barriers to effective code enforcement, property acquisition, and property rehabilitation, including those that would     require statutory changes (e.g. receivership, fines and fees); those that are based on restrictive legal opinions or perhaps outmoded case law (e.g.liability for community-sponsored “adopt-a-lot” programs); and those that are based on commonly adhered to but ineffective policy and procedures (e.g. cumbersome procedures for tax sales.) An interagency working group would identify barriers and be  accountable for removing barriers according to a widely disseminated timeline and action plan.
4. Community-based Code Enforcement: Systematic and ongoing collaboration with community-based organizations to identify and target high-priority properties neighborhood by neighborhood, support peer-based enforcement actions, facilitate property acquisition      and assembly by local or other credible re-developers with a plan for rehab or re-use, and implement creative anti-blight strategies such as “adopt-a-lot” for vacant and overgrown parcels. Community-based code enforcement would be coordinated with a multi-agency city-wide Priority Property Strike Team that would target resources from multiple agencies to  a criterion-based and revolving set of problem properties.
5. Expedited Demolition: Collaborate with private sector and non-profit funders to establish a “war chest” to deal  with back-logged condemnation and demolition.
6. Fast Tracking and Zero Tolerance for Designated Violations: In conjunction with Environmental Court, establish a fast track and zero-tolerance policies and procedures for  environmental, abandoned vehicle, and other non-structural, behavior-associated, and relatively uncomplicated violations. 
7. Fee-based Enforcement for High Risk  Properties: Establish new and expand fee-based inspection, monitoring, and certificate of occupancy policies for high risk properties such as   multi-family rentals, vacant commercial (e.g. Article 10 Commercial Anti-Neglect) and residential properties, and re-inspections/ certificate of occupancy for properties having rehabilitation orders. Use revenue to support creative enforcement, such as displacement assistance.
8. Displacement Assistance: Collaborate  with private sector and non-profit funders to establish a “community chest” for legal assistance, repairs and renovation, relocation, and other      problems associated with worse-case scenarios among low-income and disabled or elderly homeowners and qualified renters displaced by code enforcement actions against owners.
9. Best Practice Linkages: Establish partnerships with organizations such as the National Vacant Properties Campaign and regularly participate in selected conferences to access best      practices, innovations in technology, and technical assistance.
10. Performance-Based Funding for Anti-Blight Programs and Organizations: Establish and/or better enforce productivity and quality standards for CHDOs, Section 8 and LIHTC-assisted      housing, home ownership counseling and other anti-foreclosure programs, and other initiatives funded by government that are intended to both expand the supply of affordable housing and maintain neighborhood vitality.

Jacob's Ladder Fundraiser- Game Day BBQ

The Beltline neighborhood needs your help and your appetite.The Liberty Bowl college season is under way, and Jacob's Ladder Community Development Corporation is launching a unique way to support community revitalization in the Beltline (a neighborhood adjacent to the Liberty Bowl Stadium), where they have been promoting better housing, education, and community welfare for the past 4 1/2 years. Each home game week, they are selling pre-paid barbecue packages, including BBQ Ribs, Boston Butt and Fudge Pie. Choose different home games and order as much as you like, and pick it up the day before the game! Take it to tailgating parties, back home in front of your TV, or a friend's house! All profits go directly to support the Beltline redevelopment efforts of Jacob's Ladder. We hope you'll join all of us in this delicious way to support the rehabilitation of our city's struggling communities. Click here for more information.

Thrive Newsletter Published

The summer 2008 edition of THRIVE – the newsletter of the Coalition for Livable Communities (CLC) is hot off the press, including the following articles:

• 100 Memphis Neighborhood Leaders are Creating Livable Communities
• FREE workshops for your neighborhood
• CLC receives a grant for a workshop in Riverview Kansas, and
• Member Spotlight - U of M professor Charlie Santo
  

CLC is an initiative of CD Council. Its goals are to coordinate education and advocacy efforts on issues related to urban development patterns, and offer a grassroots perspective on related policy issues. For more information click here.