[Durham INC] Better Draft of April Minutes

[Lorisa Seibel]

Neighbors:
At the May meeting, please support the two resolutions proposed for  
discussion:
- collecting accumulated liens for housing violations and directing  
funds to housing and housing enforcement, and
- dedicating the equivalent of a penny of the tax rate for housing  
programs.

A penny of the tax rate is about $2 million.  Collecting accumulated  
liens of $800,000 owed for housing violations could help fund housing  
repair programs, as well as enforcement.

The Penny for Housing priority is to dedicate $500,000 to build  
supportive housing for homeless, disabled, and other lower income  
residents with special needs.  Over the past three years, $1 million  
of the Penny for Housing helped non-profits create about 40 affordable  
homes.  Two people who moved off the streets and out of shelters will  
tell their stories on our website (where you can find our Penny for  
Housing petition):
www.dahc.org
Finally, we hope you will stand with us for safe and affordable  
housing at the City Council budget hearing on June 7.

Thanks for your support!

Lorisa Seibel

Durham Affordable Housing Coalition


On Apr 28, 2010, at 8:51 PM, Pat Carstensen wrote:

> I forgot one item.  Please discard the last e-mail.  Thanks, pat
>
> -----
>
> April Delegate Meeting
> First Presbyterian Church
> April 21, 2010
>
> Attending the meeting were:
> Delegates and Alternates
> Jennifer Skahen – Burch Avenue
> Chris Wilcox - Colonial Village
> Pat Carstensen - Cross Counties
> Rosemarie Kitchin – Falconbridge
> Melissa Rooney - Fairfield
> Craigie Sanders – Grove Park
> Moe Rivera – Old North Durham
> Brett Walters – Old West Durham
> Tom Miller - Watts Hospital Hillandale
>
> Visitors
> Lynwood Best - City of Durham (NIS)
> Jim Wise – News and Observer
> Scott Pearson – Olive Branch Road
> Diane Baren – Cross Timbers (in Woodcroft)
> Lorisa Seibel – Durham Affordable Housing Coalition
>
>
> Minutes
> Tom Miller opened the meeting.  We will try to have Planning  
> Director Steve Medlin at the May 25th meeting.  We would also like  
> to meet with legislators at some future meeting.
>
> Delegates introduced themselves.  There was no quorum so we didn’t  
> vote on the minutes and the bylaws changes.
>
> Lorisa Seibel talked about inspections of rental housing, penny for  
> housing, inclusionary zoning and affordable housing around  
> transit.    Greensboro has a successful rental-housing inspection  
> that we can use as a model.  It was implemented with fairly minimal  
> cost, there is no cost for landlords, and units that pass inspection  
> are in a public record on the web.  One advantage to landlords is  
> that if an inspector says the unit is up to code, they have some  
> evidence if a renter has been tearing up the place.
>
> On Penny for Housing (www.ipetitions.com/petition/pennyforhousing/),  
> Durham has over $800,000 in uncollected liens.  Some are on property  
> owned by elderly folks who can’t pay, but much is money we could use  
> – to pay to fill the 2 vacant inspections positions, for example.
>
> Charlotte got a lot of new development around their rail project,  
> but almost none of this was affordable housing (except, of course,  
> to whiners who think that they can’t afford what they deserve on 6  
> figure salaries).  The enable legislation for Triangle rail says we  
> have to have a plan about having affordable housing around transit  
> corridors.  Even without transit, we have a lot of re-development  
> around town and should have some that remains affordable.  So we  
> need to figure out mixture of carrots and sticks that will make this  
> happen.
>
> Weatherization is also important.
>
> Two resolutions were proposed for discussion by neighborhoods:
> 1.     INC urges the Durham City Council to devote the resources and  
> take the steps necessary to enforce its accumulated liens for  
> housing violations and to direct the funds collected to housing and  
> housing enforcement.  (Moved by Rosemarie Kitchen and seconded by  
> Melissa Rooney).
> 2.     INC urges the Durham City Council to include in the 2010-2011  
> budget fund equivalent to one penny of the tax rate for housing  
> programs.  (Moved by Rosemarie Kitchen and seconded by Moe Rivera).
>
> On billboards, Tom Miller spoke at the Planning Commission hearing,  
> conveying our opposition of changes in the ordinance; the Planning  
> Commission voted 0 for changes, 12 for no changes.  City Council and  
> the Board of County Commissioners will probably vote on the matter  
> before the July recess; please plan on coming to these meetings.
>
> Neighborhood news:
> ·      Falconbridge is pleased with their neighborhood watch.
> ·      Burch Avenue has won a KaBOOM! grant to revitalize their  
> pocket park.  They also got a grant of $5000 from Duke for their  
> community garden.  And they are almost through all the steps with  
> national registration for historic designation (which makes property  
> owners eligible for tax credits for historically-sensitive rehab).
> ·      National Night Out is coming up – you can register now.
> ·      Old West Durham had over 100 people at the spring West Fest  
> for pot luck, music and fun.
> ·      Lynwood Best talked about the upcoming Landlord Training  
> Workshop and about ComNet.
>
> The meeting was adjourned.
>
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