Michelle Johnson is a long-time advocate for local housing issues. Last year she co-produced the documentary Flipped, which examines how the practice can lead to a greatly decreased quality of life for targeted neighborhoods. She acts as a housing court liason for the Fillmore District and sits on the Board of Buffalo ReUse. Until recently she was a ember of the mayor’s Anti-Flipping Task Force. Now she has another title to add to her growing resume: internet radio show host.

Artvoice recently asked her how she embarked on this mission, where it’s led her and how things have changed.

AV: How did you get involved with the flipping issue?

Michelle Johnson: We started watching because my sister-in-law was taken in a rent-to-own scam. And I started watching what was going on on the internet. I met with a housing inspector and he would go look at it and inspect it. We started getting complaint after complaint after complaint. I had an email list of about a hundred people. And I was emailing people saying, “Look, help us! This is going on; we need to do something.” I was talking to the news…anybody I could talk to. Sam [Hoyt] was the first one to help us.

AV: How do these scammers operate?

MJ: They look for cheap real estate. There’s all kinds of Web sites they can go on to find cheap housing. We have one of the lowest costs for housing of any city. Youngstown is another one. Toledo. Old rust belt cities are seeing the same thing. Where jobs have left and the economic development is not happening at a fast pace and the city is shrinking—the people are leaving because they can’t find jobs. We were number one for a long time. Now we’re not, so I’m proud of that.

AV: What’s changed since you became involved?

MJ: Basically, the city tax auction was a huge problem for us because investors, as they would call themselves, would come in from all over the country and buy our cheap housing. And many of the houses required demolition. Or the houses are in such bad shape they’re just going to flip them, they’re not going to put any money in them. So now we have a new Buffalo law that says anytime you buy a house at the auction here, you cannot sell it for more that 120 percent of the purchase price within six months. You have to work on the repairs to the property and if it has housing code violations you have to get busy with them. We’re not gonna sit around and wait for years.

AV: What can an out-of-town buyer expect if he finds himself in that position?

MJ: First thing they have to do is come to court. Wherever they are, they need to come to Buffalo. They need to get their property sorted themselves. They need to come in front of the judge, make a plan out, hire a local contractor. Fix the house up or pay for the demolition. Many people come and they see the house and they cry, like, “I had no idea…” Well, you know what? You bought a house with a negative value. You have to come and take care of your property. It’s not going to go away because you don’t live here.

You can listen to Michelle Johnson’s new show Radio From A Broad on WNYM by visiting the WNYMedia.net and clicking on the appropriate link. You can call the show at 886-WNYM.