Goal - To Improve Housing Quality in New Albany

There have been wonderful threads recently in the blog world brainstorming on the issue of housing quality in New Albany.

I’ve taken the liberty of stating a Goal:

To Improve the Quality of Housing in New Albany

Below are key bullet points I’ve taken from those threads. I invite everyone to add to this list. There are items below that are doable and some are even in progress.
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Housing Quality Brainstorming:

Consistent enforcement of City building codes/ordinances

Rental Inspection Ordinance – with consistent enforcement

Newspaper (Tribune/Courier) to devote space to exposing the most egregious offenders by publishing photos and public records.

Local Non-Profits, Neighborhood Associations, and residents partnering with New Directions Housing Corp. Repair Affair program

Comprehensive inventory of buildings (once a year?) carried out by Neighborhood Associations – (purpose to measure trends/progress)

Listing homes for sale (or going to sheriff’s sale) on http://www.historicnewalbany.com/

Additional funding for rehabs from the City’s CDBG allotment

CHDO rehabs with funds made available as Linden Meadows moves forward

Workshops from local banks to review loan programs available for remodeling/rehabbing/purchasing homes

Establishment of a City Court to speed code enforcement process

Increasing the staffing of the City Legal department
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We have a stated goal. Let’s continue to brainstorm ways to accomplish that goal. Please post your ideas.

The next step will be to develop specific objectives and strategies that contribute to accomplishing the goal. At a future date, we can take this discussion off the web and have a public forum (hosted by S. Ellen Jones Neighborhood Association and East Spring Street Neighborhood Association) to explore assigning owners to specific tasks and projects.

Let’s also consider measurements of success. For example, how will we know that housing quality is improved? Has the number of blighted properties decreased? What’s the total number of blighted properties today? Is there a positive trend? How many homes have been rehabbed with CDBG or private funds? How many homes listed on HistoricNewAlbany.com were sold? How many building code citations were written last month? Last six months? Last year? How many were resolved successfully?

My point is that we can measure progress. But we need to establish how. Otherwise we are doomed to repeat the same threads, meetings, and complaints over and over and over….

This is a City wide problem. Put in your 2 cents worth – To Improve the Quality of Housing in New Albany.

Meeting Tuesday February 21 - 6:30

Tentative agenda items for the meeting tonight (2/21) at 6:30pm at S. Ellen Jones Elementary School (600 East 11th Street, New Albany Indiana)

1. Guest Speaker: None Scheduled

2. Chili Supper Planning
11:30 to 1:00, Saturday March 4th
$3 for chili, desert, drink
To be followed by SEJ Elementary Auction

3. Cardinal Ritter House Update

4. Grant requests in progress for SEJ Elementary programs

5. Community Development Block Grant – review of notes from Feb 14 meeting

6. Officer nominations and elections: President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary
(Carryover from January Meeting)

If you have any other topics to add to the agenda please email or leave comment on the site.

CDBG Planning for New Albany

Tuesday, February 14 – 7pm, Assembly Room 331 City-County Building
The staff of the redevelopment Commission shall conduct a public meeting concerning the nature of the Community Development Block Grant program; eligible and ineligible activities; programs areas and activities, as well as to discuss CDBG and its uses.
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I am a novice at this community development stuff. I do know the CDBG program is an incredibly important tool for revitalizing urban areas. But the pool of money is getting smaller (approximately $820,000 for New Albany this year). Attending the hearing on Tuesday is important to anyone interested in understanding the program and how these funds can/will be spent.

The below excerpts are from the Grassroots Legislative Agenda, Volume 4, Number 1, Winter 2006, prepared by the Center for Preservation Initiatives. I thought it provided a good synopsis of the program. For more info on the CDBG program, visit http://www.hud.gov/
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The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program was started in the mid 1970’s as communities grappled with solutions for solving “blight” and other urban ills.

All CDBG-supported activity must benefit individuals, with low and moderate incomes: prevent or eliminate slums or blight: or be designed to meet an urgent need community development need.

Earlier this year, the program threatened with a move to the Department of Commerce, along with a significant cut within the Presidents 2006 budget recommendations. The extremely popular program got immediate support from communities it has benefited…

Multiple hearings were held in 2005 to determine the effectiveness of the program.
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Ultimately, it appears that the momentum to save the program, combined with needs brought about by Gulf hurricanes, succeeded. Final appropriation was for $3.8 billion.

To view the City of New Albany Citizen Participation Plan, visit: http://www.cityofnewalbany.com/
See the City Headline dated 2/9/2006.