Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509250052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHEBA WHEELER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Tate's death caused a public outcry as Roanokers discovered that housing in such poor condition existed in their city. Bern Ewert, then city manager, promised to rid the city of rotten and unsafe housing within 10 years.
Since then, however, the city has lost ground in its fight against unfit housing: Today's estimate of 1,500 substandard houses is 300 more than existed in 1985 - or even as recently as 1991.
Roanoke housing officials admit that no one ever thought Ewert's dream to eradicate unsafe housing was really reachable. No firm commitments were made, said Dan Pollock, Roanoke housing development coordinator.
"If there ever was in fact such a commitment, I don't think anybody here ever considered it," Pollock said. "I have no knowledge that City Council ever issued such a commitment. There was never any plan developed."
Though Pollock said officials never completely embraced Ewert's promise, steps have been taken to move the city closer to a time when substandard housing no longer is a threat. Studies have been made and task forces have met several times over the years to offer recommendations on the most efficient way to increase the availability of safe, affordable housing.
Critics believe housing officials should do more to stop the increase in substandard housing. They say the city should hire more inspectors and enforce building codes, as well as provide more low-interest loans.
"It seems like so many studies have been done, but so little has changed," said Nancy Brock of the Legal Aid Society of Roanoke Valley.
For example, Roanoke has spent $15 million to upgrade or demolish houses in the past 10 years. But the city has spent the same amount each year - $1.5 million - since 1986. When inflation is taken into account, the city actually is spending less now than it was then.
In the face of an overburdened staff of building inspectors and an increasingly drier well of federal and state grants from which to draw, officials say Roanoke is doing the best it can.
City officials believe a new rental-inspection program will give the city clout to inspect vacant rental units in designated areas before they are rerented, to enforce building maintenance and safety codes.
"Not only is housing a high priority, but we are continuing our efforts to make it a part of our strategic plan for the city," Councilman William White said.
A catalyst for action
Madeline Tate's death in 1985 provoked housing officials to hire David Hatchett and Dan Webb to aggressively enforce building-maintenance codes in the city's aging housing stock.
Hatchett, formerly of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, inspects all existing structures on the south side of Roanoke. Webb, formerly of Total Action Against Poverty, inspects buildings on the north side. Each inspects at least a thousand properties a year, Hatchett said.
But their impact is limited. No inspector has the legal authority to seek out the Madeline Tates of the city, because an occupied unit cannot be inspected unless a renter complains or a warrant is issued for probable cause.
Many low-income renters won't report unsafe living conditions because they fear their landlords will raise the rent or evict them. As a result, decaying homes remain hidden from inspectors unless neighbors or community groups file a complaint, Hatchett said.
Building inspections - to the extent that they were done at all in 1985 - included checking vacant structures that needed to be demolished or boarded up, following up on residents' complaints and completing paperwork for inspection files. There were few inspections of occupied housing, and they were given a low priority, housing coordinator Pollock said.
"It was really frustrating," he said.
Lengthy court cases, absentee owners, landlords who neglect their property and renters who abuse their homes keep the city's inspectors overburdened.
"I've had three times the amount of complaints now than I had two years ago," Hatchett said. "Our workload has increased, but the number of workers hasn't. And these problems just don't go away. I feel like a cat trying to climb a window - I'm losing ground."
Numbers don't add up
In the past five years, the city has pumped more than $5.6 million in federal grant funds into the system to enforce building maintenance codes and protect existing housing. Funds were spent to demolish 79 buildings, board up or secure 113 and repair 37 properties from July 1, 1990, to June 30, 1995.
An example of a rehabilitation site is the 900 block of Campbell Avenue Southwest, where the city and Building Specialists Inc. have spent $1 million in grants and loans for renovation of four buildings with 12 rental apartments.
Building Specialists Inc. bought the property, and the city provided financial aid for the rehabilitation.
In 1991, the city spent more than $600,000 to complete renovations in the West End neighborhood along Campbell Avenue. Other initiatives have been taken by corporations and community groups to rehabilitate houses in Northwest Roanoke along Gilmer and Loudon avenues, in Gainsboro along the 100 block of Harrison Avenue, and in Old Southwest.
According to 1990 Census figures, Roanoke had 44,384 housing units. The city Building Department estimated in 1993 that 1,500 of those units were substandard - defined as needing to be condemned or undergo significant repairs.
Of those substandard dwellings, 400 are not suitable for rehabilitation because they either are in advanced stages of deterioration or require repairs so extensive that it would be more economically sensible to demolish them.
City inspector Webb said he has noticed a shift in the types of complaints he receives. In years past, more requests came in for inspectors to board and secure or demolish vacant buildings. Now, Webb said, more complaints concern owner-occupied housing units that need to be brought up to code.
Housing administrators worry that the pool of federal and state grants will disappear. As a Department of Housing and Urban Development entitlement community, Roanoke receives federal money from Community Development Block Grants, HOME Investment Partnerships and Emergency Shelter Grants. The city anticipates receiving $4,135,615 in total funding from the three programs for fiscal 1995-96.
A good portion of the housing effort is funded from block grants, Pollock said. But block grant money can be used for more than just housing, and officials admit that in the past few years, other needed community services have taken precedence.
The funds have been used as loan payments for Hotel Roanoke, renovations for eight elementary schools, the sewage treatment plant, a new airport terminal and water treatment improvements, said Mayor David Bowers.
Next year, the city expects to spend more than $555,000 for Hotel Roanoke loan payments.
"A big piece of CDBG is set aside and taken right off the top for the Hotel Roanoke," Pollock said. "In previous years, it's been used for the Coca-Cola plant. If we had more money, we could do more in not just housing, but in economic services and whatever else. But it's pretty characteristic that we almost never have as much as we need."
White said all of the city's programs must compete for federal and state funds. Money for Hotel Roanoke was tied to the city's economic development, and it has been the No.1 priority for the past few years.
"We have to make tough decisions," he said.
Housing initiatives have become an increasingly higher priority for Roanoke, Bowers said. He said he will support programs to revitalize Roanoke's neighborhoods and allow the city to compete for more single-family homeowners "who once moved to the suburbs but are now looking back to the city."
Some of the programs Bowers hopes to initiate, with council approval, include incentives such as tax rebates or fee waivers for water and sewer hookups to single-family housing developments.
In the meantime, Roanoke's housing stock continues to age. Most of it was built before 1950, so the city must maintain and repair housing to prevent deterioration, said Petie Cavendish, neighborhood leader and member of Old Southwest Inc.
"The neighborhood dies from within," Cavendish said. "Urban blight, deterioration - these things are not stagnant. It moves with the people, and it grows."
Many of the people living in deteriorating homes don't have the money to repair them.
"When you have a family on a fixed income, you have priorities," Webb said. "You've got to eat before you fix the roof."
For every house the city has helped repair, another one has slipped into ruin, Pollock said. He compared the rehabilitation and deterioration process to dental hygiene: If people have regular checkups and take care of their teeth now, they will have fewer problems and pay less to the dentist later.
"A house can deteriorate to the point where it needs to be pulled out," Pollock said. "If you don't take care of it all along, it will cost you more to fix it. Unfortunately, we've been pulling more teeth lately."
by CNB