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Thread: Finally, Governor & HUD address Bflo Housing Crisis

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    Finally, Governor & HUD address Bflo Housing Crisis

    This attention to Bflo's housing crisis is long overdue.

    The Bflo HUD office has long ignored ever growing blight & abandonment as $100's of millions of "affordable housing funds have poured through Bflo, much of it diverted into heavily-subsidized new housing, most costing more than $200,000 per unit & much of it built where folks never lived when Bflo was over 2X larger.

    Hopefully the Governor's & HUD's long overdue actions to the overwhelming problem will finally stimulate real reform of dramatically failed housing policy.

    Of course, it also must finally include a real 'poverty plan' in the 3rd poorest US city. . 1 1/2 years after Mayor Byron Brown hired 'poverty czar Donna Brown.


    http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/836599.html#

    Governor to put focus on Buffalo as target of pilot project tasked with rehabilitating empty, deteriorating housesAlbany and Washington shine light on Buffalo housing blight

    By Phil Fairbanks, News Staff Reporter
    Updated: October 23, 2009, 8:26 AM /

    Buffalo, a city with a vacant-housing crisis rivaling New Orleans and Detroit, is catching the eye of state and federal officials interested in making it a model of how to right-size and rebound.

    Gov. David A. Paterson unveiled a major initiative Thursday that would make Buffalo the initial focus of a statewide effort to end the spiraling nature of vacant housing.

    Paterson, who will officially announce the strategy in his State of the State address in January, said Buffalo would serve as a pilot project for an initiative that will emphasize the rehabilitation of abandoned housing.

    “If we are going to succeed in revitalizing our upstate cities, we have to attack the underlying issue of vacant and abandoned property,” Paterson said in a statement Thursday.

    The governor’s announcement followed the news that federal Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan will visit Buffalo today to learn about a similar project proposed by Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo.

    Schumer and Higgins are sponsoring federal legislation that would set aside $400 million over three years to address the vacant-housing crisis and create 30 pilot projects in places like Buffalo.

    State officials say Paterson’s initiative is complementary, not competitive, and pointed to his proposal for a “Green Development Zone,” a strategy for rebuilding a 16-block neighborhood on Buffalo’s lower West Side.

    The goal behind the zone, which would be located west of Richmond Avenue and south of West Ferry Street, is to create a national model for green-designed neighborhood revitalization.

    The emphasis would be on housing rehabilitation and other green-friendly reuses of abandoned property, including community gardens and urban farming.

    “We’re excited that the governor is committed to working with us to create quality housing and jobs,” said Aaron Bartley of PUSH Buffalo, a West Side group partnering with the state.

    Bartley said the project — a collaboration between the state and community groups such as PUSH, Homefront and the Massachusetts Avenue Project — will include an emphasis on creating good-quality jobs as part of its investment in the neighborhood.

    While Paterson’s primary focus is on housing rehabilitation, his strategy also includes a newly created state fund to pay for the acquisition and demolition of vacant buildings that stand in the way of positive development.

    “In pushing forward with a pilot program to address Buffalo’s vacant-housing crisis,” Paterson said, “we will use every tool at our disposal to reverse decades of decline that have left a cloud over one of the great American cities.”

    Paterson’s advisers described the strategy as a major component of the governor’s 2010 legislative agenda and said his goal is to include funding in the next budget and get the Buffalo project up and running later in the year.

    Those same advisers stopped short of offering any details on how much money would be needed, a key stumbling block, given New York’s troubled finances, and indicated the size and scope of the project is still being worked out.

    A Paterson spokesman also dismissed any suggestion that the governor’s pilot project might conflict with the pilot project proposed by Schumer and Higgins.

    “I would say they’re very much complementary,” said spokesman Peter Kauffmann.

    The Schumer-Higgins bill would create a pilot program in 30 cities, and today’s visit by Donovan, the nation’s top housing official, gives the two lawmakers an opportunity to recommend Buffalo as a likely candidate.

    “The big issue is to expose the secretary to the vacancy crisis that exists in older industrial cities,” said Michael Clarke, executive director of the Buffalo office of the Local Support Initiatives Corp., a nonprofit group active in community issues here and across the country.

    The message Donovan is likely to hear is that Buffalo’s vacant-housing crisis started long before the housing meltdown nationwide.

    He also will hear, after visiting neighborhoods on the East Side and West Side, that the depth of the abandoned-housing problem here rivals New Orleans and Detroit.

    “It’s just as pervasive here,” said Clarke. “A lot of people who have come here have said there are neighborhoods in Buffalo that look more like New Orleans than people here want to believe.”

    A 2008 series by The Buffalo News explored the magnitude of the problem here and found Buffalo’s vacant housing rate to be the highest in New York and trailing only Detroit and New Orleans among the 100 largest cities.

    The series also found one out of every 12 or 13 properties in Buffalo — a total of 7,000 to 8,000 — are owned by City Hall, making it Buffalo’s single biggest landowner.

    Bartley, who helped organize the tour, sees the visit as an opportunity to sell Donovan on the notion that Buffalo’s problems are different than other cities and therefore warrant new remedies.

    “We have a unique opportunity to communicate both the challenges and opportunities facing our neighborhoods,” he said of the tour.

    Donovan is expected to visit properties on the West Side and Broadway-Fillmore area.

    pfairbanks@buffnews.com

  2. #2
    Member Linda_D's Avatar
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    What Patterson and the legislature need to do first is change the rules for demos of residential properties in the upstate area so that they are more affordable. NY's demo rules, especially for asbestos evaluation/mitigation are based on what's appropriate for brick/masonry/steel NYC buildings not for frame 1-4 unit residential builidings in Buffalo or Jamestown.

    What Brown and the COB then need to do is target areas for mass demos, put out RFPs for asbestos evaluation/mitigation and demos for the target area, and get a better price per unit. Jamestown gets a better price than Buffalo does -- I think it's $7,000 vs $10,000-$15,000 for frame residences.

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    Quote Originally Posted by kernwatch View Post
    This attention to Bflo's housing crisis is long overdue.

    The Bflo HUD office has long ignored ever growing blight & abandonment as $100's of millions of "affordable housing funds have poured through Bflo, much of it diverted into heavily-subsidized new housing, most costing more than $200,000 per unit & much of it built where folks never lived when Bflo was over 2X larger.

    Hopefully the Governor's & HUD's long overdue actions to the overwhelming problem will finally stimulate real reform of dramatically failed housing policy.

    Of course, it also must finally include a real 'poverty plan' in the 3rd poorest US city. . 1 1/2 years after Mayor Byron Brown hired 'poverty czar Donna Brown.
    Why do you hate poor people and love slumlords so much, Dick, that you are so anxious to force people to live in substandard housing because they don't have affordable alternatives? Are you really so naive that you think these absentee owners are going to actually fix up their properties? Their properties are in such poor condition because these people either bought them as abandoned buildings or didn't maintain them in the first place.

    People like
    • James Brady, Jr (11 properties)
    • Stacey and/or Cora Clay (20 properties)
    • Dennis Doody (10 properties)
    • Evans Hapina Properties, Inc (12 properties)
    • Helen Gidney (10 properties)
    • Daniel & Janine Rath (11 properties)
    • the Sessum family (11 properties)
    • Thomas M Stuebe (14 proeprties)
    don't even pay their taxes and/or water bills. Instead of foreclosing on their properties, the city should inspect these crappy houses for code violations and give them 30 days to fix them -- or take them down with the charges going as a lien against the owner.

    I'm out of patience with the COB's stupidity on these In Rem auctions which only ascerbate the problem of abandoned housing. Where the heck are the building inspectors in Buffalo, btw? Code enforcement is where it starts. If some landlord doesn't pay his water bill, then shut off the water, move the tenants out, and require the landlord to get a new certificate of occupancy (ie, bring the building up to code) before he/she can rent the place out again.

    Methinks there are too many politically connected slumlords in Buffalo, which is why this crap has gone on so long. BTW, none of the other big upstate cities are in as bad shape as Buffalo is. That speaks volumes.

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    You couldn't give any of there properties. The underline issue is crime, poverty and unemployment... period.
    Kiss someone that's different. It helps.
    Lets get the facts first, then go for the jugular!!
    It's all transparent, just read between the lines..

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    These buildings and homes are not in the same trouble Detroit was and is. They are comparing apples to oranges.

    People do not want to live in a lot of these homes because they either need too much repair or are in a bad neighborhood. Detroits market crashed. We have one of the most affordable housing in the country. The price of homes in this area has nothing to do with why these homes are vacant.
    Colleen
    Realtor

    Visit My Website

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    Quote Originally Posted by CAugust View Post
    These buildings and homes are not in the same trouble Detroit was and is. They are comparing apples to oranges.

    People do not want to live in a lot of these homes because they either need too much repair or are in a bad neighborhood. Detroits market crashed. We have one of the most affordable housing in the country. The price of homes in this area has nothing to do with why these homes are vacant.
    Exactly!! The homes prices in the city and most burbs are realy cheap! (property taxes are another story). It's the crime and the lack of general care and upkeep shown in many areas that keep people out of the city! Not to mention the schools!
    "I know you guys enjoy reading my stuff because it all makes sense. "

    Dumbest post ever! Thanks for the laugh PO!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dougles View Post
    Exactly!! The homes prices in the city and most burbs are realy cheap! (property taxes are another story). It's the crime and the lack of general care and upkeep shown in many areas that keep people out of the city! Not to mention the schools!
    Safety, schools, and snowplowing are what drive people out of the city. People try to fight for their neighborhoods, but eventually, they see the writing on the wall and leave, either for the 'burbs or for elsewhere. My brothers and I all lived in Buffalo for years, but we've all left, and nobody's crying about.

    The city pols can build all the fancy downtown "attractions" they can find the money for, but the city is going to continue to lose population until the city government starts taking care of its business: providing safe neighborhoods with decent schools and decent services.

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    HUD once the biggest property flipper in Buffalo (www.flippedmovie.com) now has been much more eager to listen,When a house has been listed that was beyond repair they have demolished it..Koons Ave,Gold St and one of the W.S.recently..
    The biggest issue we have and can not be solved overnight is there are thousands more houses than there are people...so we have to thin the herd..survival of the fittest and anything that is a hidden gem and not in need of demolition should be mothballed...
    I have been saying the same things for years..
    landbanking has to begin..strategic landbanking.
    WNY's link to the latest deals,printable coupons AND money saving tips!
    www.buffalobroad.com

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    ........jobs...........

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    Unhappy Slumlords

    Let's put the pressure on the slumlords. They are no better than the people who sell crack.

    Oh BTW the Police Commish is a retired slumlord

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    I want to see huge excavators

    I'm happy every time I see a big excavator. That means progress. Another vacant demolished. One less place for drug dealers to take over, stash their drugs and guns, and probably most importantly, one less for the Firemen to fall through the floors in. I would like to see them bring in those big dozers and flatten whole streets. I remember Ray McGurn saying 15 yrs ago that this City needs millions for demolitions. He was right on the mark.

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    UPDATE: HUD Sec Donovan tours Bflo vacant homes

    Here is the Bflo News summary of the vist by HUD boss Donovan, & congressmen Higgins & Schumer to Bflo on Friday.

    It is essential that any real intervention into Bflo's deepening housing crisis include a cost-benefit analysis of the $100's of millions spent so far.

    Especially needing scrutiny is the relentless subsidized construction of "newbuild" housing, adding ever more vacancies . . and the endless massive cost of public housing (BMHA) in a city having a glut of 'low income housing'.

    http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregio...y/837843.html#

    HUD Secretary Donovan tours Buffalo vacant homes
    Donovan said visit to help determine ‘what works, what doesn’t, and what we can do on a federal level’


    By Robert J. McCarthy, NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER
    October 24, 2009, 8:24 AM

    The rough and tumble neighborhood along 19th Street on Buffalo’s West Side doesn’t usually get visits from the likes of Rep. Brian Higgins, Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

    But all three ended up there Friday afternoon to promote new federal programs aiming to stem the blight of vacant housing they said lies at the heart of crime and blight in struggling cities like Buffalo. On the day following a separate commitment by Gov. David A. Paterson to take similar steps on the state level, it appears Buffalo — with one of the worst vacant housing problems in the nation—is gaining lots of housing attention from lots of politicians.

    “It’s hard to see how Buffalo would not be chosen,” Schumer said about his Community Regeneration Act during the event at 106 19th St. “It would be a very, very good bet that Buffalo will get some significant money here.”

    Donovan, who served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development before being selected to lead HUD by President Obama, presided over an event in a formerly vacant house that is among six being rebuilt on 19th Street. With nearby houses boarded up and Schumer calling them a magnet for crime, Donovan touted a host of Obama administration programs that he said assigns a top priority to vacant housing.

    Schumer said the secretary came to Buffalo to learn more about the plan that he and Higgins are shepherding in Congress. And Donovan said the visit is part of an effort to determine “what works, what doesn’t, and what we can do on a federal level.” In emphasizing the administration’s commitment to fighting problems like abandoned houses, Donovan continually returned to the president’s “Task Force on Cities in Transition,” which he said brings together top officials from many federal agencies. Crime cannot be overlooked in such an effort, he said, which is exactly why officials like Attorney General Eric Holder are involved.

    “The one thing every city in this country needs is a true partner,” Donovan said. “That’s exactly what you get in Washington — a true partner.”

    Schumer and Higgins have dwelled on the Buffalo problem in previous visits, pointing to its spread to first ring suburbs such as Cheektowaga. With more than 12,000 vacant properties in Buffalo alone, Schumer said his plan would establish or expand local land banks, demolish abandoned properties and develop comprehensive plans to deal with vacant properties.

    The idea for Donovan’s visit, he said, was to see first hand the magnitude of the problem in Buffalo and impress on the administration the need for bills such as the one he and Higgins have proposed. “Buffalo has some good ideas here,” the senator said. “What’s missing is money. That’s what Congressman Higgins and I hope to provide”

    Donovan added the federal government is also addressing the problem in ways other than financial. He said HUD now has a new effort to support planning in areas hit by vacant homes, bringing ideas and technical assistance to the table, and providing “flexibility” in approaches in different cities. “We can do bricks and mortar . . . and maybe do demolition,” Donovan said. “We need to have the flexibility across our programs to support local initiatives and ideas — not to have a one-size-fits-all policy.”

    Schumer, meanwhile, said he looks to pass his legislation this year and hopes to have money available for a local program next year. The federal attention on the Buffalo problem—which ranks with Detroit and New Orleans as the worst vacancy situation in the nation — coincides with new emphasis from Albany. Paterson unveiled a companion program on Thursday that Buffalo would serve as a pilot project for an initiative that will emphasize the rehabilitation of abandoned housing.

    State officials say Paterson’s plan is complementary, not competitive, and pointed to his proposal for a “Green Development Zone,” a strategy for rebuilding a 16-block neighborhood on Buffalo’s Lower West Side. The goal behind the zone, which would be located west of Richmond Avenue and south of West Ferry Street, is to create a national model for green-designed neighborhood revitalization. The emphasis would be on housing rehabilitation.

    rmccarthy@buffnews.com

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    Business First weighs in

    Here is another summary of HYD Secretary Donovan's visit to Bflo on Friday.

    This initiative will be successful only if educated & engaged citizens get involved.

    A similar rehab initiative by Mayor Byron Brown & WSNHS was announced last fall for lower Baynes, Hoyt & Parkdale. A year later there is no information to be had about the program.

    SEE: http://wsnhs.org/Newsletter_Dec2008.pdf




    From Business First:

    http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffa...9/daily56.html

    Friday, October 23, 2009

    Fed program may have home in Buffalo

    Business First of Buffalo

    Mark Webster

    July Oo stands on the front porch of a home at 106 19th street on Buffalo’s West Side - a home she says she is likely to buy. The renovations, being led by Home Front Inc., should be completed by year’s end.

    The “American Dream” of home ownership arrived Friday afternoon for July OO in the form of a police-escorted line of federal officials on one of the grittiest streets on Buffalo’s West Side.

    It came from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins, who chose the 19th Street house that Oo (pronounced "O") hopes to occupy later this year. The house, which was vacant and abandoned for years, before it was targeted for rehabilitation using federal funds is the poster child for a new program being championed by lawmakers that will see urban properties and neighborhoods restored.

    Oo, a Maynmar native who moved to Buffalo from Thailand five years ago, is exactly the type person that Donovan, Schumer and Higgins hope take advantage of the program. Called the Community Regeneration Act, HUD will select 30 U.S. cities to share in a $300 million pot of federal money aimed at renovating abandoned or vacant homes or, in worst-case scenarios, demolishing them to make way for new housing.

    The act, Schumer said, should be approved by federal lawmakers this year and underway next year. Buffalo is believed to be among the favorites to land the pilot program. “Abandoned homes remain thorns in the sides of efforts to rejuvenate neighborhoods,” Schumer said.

    But to lower-income residents like OO, what it means is a chance to own their own home. The slight woman, who seemed shy and taken back by her moment in the spotlight, said the thought of owning her own house was unthinkable in Maynmar, and when she first arrived in Buffalo. “I never could have dreamed this. It’s like, ‘Wow,’” she said in broken English.

    The federal program will work in conjunction with a similar one that Gov. David Paterson wants to start next year. The complimentary programs will only help a city like Buffalo — the nation’s third poorest, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Buffalo, by default, owns more than 7,000 abandoned properties. Mayor Byron Brown said he wants see 1,000 abandoned homes demolished during the next five years.

    Schumer and Higgins brought Donovan to Buffalo for a few hours on Friday to tour troubled East Side and West Side neighborhoods. While they did see urban blight in the form of boarded up homes, some of which are used for criminal purposes, they also saw hope. They saw a couple that moved from Wyoming County who are turning 25 parcels into an urban farm.

    On 19th Street, amid another row of boarded up homes, they saw what will likely be Oo’s new residence.

    “Seeing is believing,” Schumer said. “It’s no secret that Western New York is plagued with vacant and abandoned homes in a lot of neighborhoods.” Oo’s home is the reason for hope, New York’s senior senator said. “We should be doing this neighborhood after neighborhood and street after street,” Schumer said.

    Donovan agrees. “It’s no secret that cities like Buffalo are facing challenges,” the HUD secretary said. Donovan said if Buffalo is selected for the pilot program, it will be up to the Brown administration to determine what neighborhoods will receive the funds and how those dollars will be allocated. Washington will not dictate but it will expect benchmarks to be met. “We understand there will be local planning and priorities involved,” Donovan said

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    Byron Brown missing as HUD Secretary offers help

    I am often inspired by Jim Heaney stating what others ignore.

    Where was Byron Brown when a new HUD Secretary (who is both competent & really cares about poverty & blight, in which Bflo 'excels') visits the third poorest & third most vacant blighted US city with two congressmen in tow???

    http://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrage...lass-acts.html

    October 27, 2009
    Two "class" acts

    Hey, I report. You decide.

    On to the mayor. (NOTE, Heaney first addresses Collins' recent anti-semitic' debacle)

    Who do you see in the picture below. Or, more precisely, who don't you see?

    (See photo in link above)

    Let's see, there's Brian Higgins. And Shaun Donovan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and urban Development. And Chuck Schumer. All three flew in from out of town. Also pictured on the far right is, no, not Chris Collins, but Anthony Armstrong, of the Buffalo office of the Local Initiatives Support Corp.

    Why was Donovan here?

    Schumer said the secretary came to Buffalo to learn more about the plan that he and Higgins are shepherding in Congress.

    In other words, our lawmakers are hustling to set up a program that would likely help Buffalo, among other places, and the guy in a position to write the check wants to know more.

    Brown was supposed to participate in the secretary's daylong visit. But nooooooooooo. He was too busy, according to Peter Cutler, his spokesman.

    What was so important that the mayor couldn't meet with Donovan?

    "It was just a busy day," Cutler said.

    Busy with what?

    "Some issues at the office."

    No big deal Brown didn't take time out, Cutler assured me.

    "He's met with the HUD secretary before."

    But have near fear, Brown sent Deputy Mayor Donna Brown in his place.

    "He wanted to make sure we had a presence."

    I'm told by someone in attendance the deputy mayor showed up more than half-an-hour late.

    Nice. I'm sure than made a good impression.

    Now let me get this straight. The nation's top urban affairs official makes a rare visit to Buffalo and the mayor is too busy? The same mayor who shows up at every ribbon-cutting ceremony, who treats crime scenes as a a photo op?

    Please.

    I'm not in the guy's head, so I don't know for sure why he blew off the fellow in a position to bring a lot of money to the nation's third-poorest city.

    But I do know that Brown was irate in March when HUD issued a report ripping the city's management of its block grant program, to the point where he called D.C. to demand that HUD silence Steve Banko, head of the Buffalo office. And I think it's pretty safe to assume hizzoner wasn't happy when HUD's inspector general agreed in July to audit the city's use of block grant funds.

    So, was the mayor too busy, or still in a snit?

    As I said earlier, I report. You decide.

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