Problems With Housing Enforcement

In the interest of acknowledging that the housing problems exist all over the city, and have become so numerous that it is going to take a major effort to deal with them, and a lot of money to deal with them correctly, I am sharing some examples from the East side of the City.


I recently received a letter from a Main St. friend of mine who gave permission to post the following interpretation of the problems we are facing in our efforts to have sub-standard, unsafe, housing in the inner-city addressed.
There are certain issues raised that must be considered in the scope of the problem. Therefore, we submit the following:

"The reason the city doesn’t want rental inspections is because the houses will not pass inspection. You may recall when this was brought up at a council meeting and a certain person held up a stack of about 100 rental properties that are all owned by a hand full of slum lord’s that ALL show up on the mayor’s campaign finance report. This is why they are keeping a tight rein on Pam Badger who I really feel has the best intentions, I’ve heard nothing but good things about her, but hey, you do what you’re told or be fired for insubordination. Don’t we Steve?
You do NOT screw around with the money trees.
Were the slum lord’s forced to bring their properties up to code???? It would cost HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars. You know it. They’d have to increase their rent fees and probably then lose the current low rent renter. But no. They are content to charge what they charge and just let the buildings fall down around these people of questionable background who are just glad to have a place they can afford. And we get to live amongst low rent people who are trouble makers, thus the term, “Low rent,” a term used to describe scummy people, as in “You are a low rent son of a gun.”
And it’s not just the rent revenue they get that is the big money maker for them. It’s what they can get for the property on a loan. They buy the house for $5000 and maybe/maybe not fix it up a little, then have it appraised for $80,000 and cash out that money and invest it. Boom, they now have $75,000 cash. Invest that or use it buy 15 more $5000 houses and do the same thing and turn around and cash that out 15 X $75,000. Now we’re up to over a million dollars. So what if you have mortgages to pay on 15 houses, its chump change compared to what you are borrowing, investing and playing with. The interest off the money could pay the mortgages or the rent. However you want to work it, you still have a million dollars. And if you have 100 of said properties, which some do, you can do the math. I think the number will explode my calculator. Do you now understand why 49% of our cities in town properties are rentals? Because other cities won’t allow this. They have code enforcement. So, they are all here, in New Albany, because that’s where they can get away with it. That’s where they can grease palms like the greasy people they are known to be. Okay, not all of them, but enough to feed the kitty.
And even if you don’t get the appraisal that high (but you probably do because he’s your brother and you’re paying him to do what you tell him to do), it all adds up. You probably ship a couple of cases of Maker’s Mark to the bank president every Christmas and he’s looking the other way too. But then he might be your brother as well and actually know what you’re up to. But hey, who cares, the loans are always paid, so who cares if they got more for it than it was really worth? Who cares if the houses fall to disrepair? Put a little duct tape on it and keep on going.
See how this works? We should all be in the slum lord business. It’s the biggest business going in New Albany and by golly, we don’t want to upset the slum lords because we need to get re-elected, and when it comes down to it, you can’t count on your party, but you sure can count on people who owe you big time. People who have brought you garbage bags full of cash and have continued to every time you pocket veto the code enforcement officer or hire an idiot to be the building commissioner (current gentleman excluded as I don’t know him) or fire the building inspectors or what have you. This is ALL about money. Think of these houses as you drive by them as little money trees. Who knew?! It’s certainly a better vision than what you have to look at.
One of these slum lords could and probably will give Jimmy all the money he wants, but it’s too bad because there isn’t enough money in the world to save his rear after the stunts he has pulled. The voters know and they’re going to know even more thanks to you, thanks to Freedom of Speech, thanks to those who stand up at the council meetings and thanks be to God.
Think about it. Look around. It’s obvious if you think about it. ANYBODY can look at some of these houses and know it’s not right. You can see it and you can even sometimes smell it."
My opinion AND the facts.
Yes you have my permission to post this on your blog.