The Talking Cure

While the record number of mortgage foreclosures resulting from the subprime loan crisis have graced headlines with regularity over the past months, problems with foreclosed upon, abandoned, and neglected properties are nothing new in Buffalo. For years now Buffalo has been dealing with an a glut of neglected and abandoned properties, and efforts (or lack thereof) to remedy the problem have been anything but successful.

The Local Initiative Support Corporation, or LISC, is a not-for-profit company that acts as a conduit between troubled homeowners, absentee landlords, groups looking to assist them both, and the government agencies that deal with these problem properties. Wednesday night a panel discussion with Anthony Armstrong of LISC; Harvey Garrett of the West Side Community Collaborative; Kathleen Lynch of the Western New York Law Center; Sam Magavern of the University at Buffalo Law School; Judge Henry Nowak Jr. of Buffalo Housing Court; and Brian Reilly, Buffalo’s Commissioner of Economic Development, Permits and Inspections, took place at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in downtown Buffalo. The panelists discussed the many challenges that Buffalo faces and the measures that need to be taken to turn our brownfields and vacant properties into livable, valuable assets and greenspace.

West Side community activist Harvey Garrett described the methods that he and his coalition have used to help push drug violence out of the West Side and raise property values. He cited individual responsibility as the most effective method for turning abandoned properties into valuable, attractive community assets, whether that be a home with a present and responsible owner or a community garden center, such as Urban Roots which opened in 2007 on Rhode Island Street. “What turns a neighborhood around is not civic leaders or police,” Garrett said. “It is the people who live there.” He argues that by blaming the city and its officials, residents disempower themselves, creating a community of finger-pointing rather than cooperation.

Since Garrett and his group have been working to improve their neighborhood, the number of vacant houses has dropped and crime has followed suit. Garrett offered the example of Chenango Street, a three-block-long street that once was littered with vacant properties. When he started working on these problems five years ago, there were 12 vacant or neglected houses on the street. Today there are only two, and seven houses on the street were recently appraised at over $100,000. Garrett argued that his group’s success on the West Side can be duplicated on the East Side if community members are willing to do their part by holding neglectful landlords responsible for their properties and working with the city to match undervalued, foreclosed-upon homes with responsible homeowners who are in the market.

Brian Reilly, who is new to City Hall but not to the city, explained that while city government is working to improve the dire vacancy situation, the city needs to think within the limits of its meager budget. He stressed that setting realistic, attainable goals was key to succeeding in the long run. Although Reilly was a sobering voice amongst the abundant optimism of some of the other panelists, he insisted that his realism stemmed from his experience facing vacancy issues in other cities. His weariness is certainly understandable: Right now the city has $8 million earmarked for vacant property management, a figure which he claims will be enough to repair approximately 220 out of the 30,000-plus abandoned properties in Erie County.

Judge Nowak, who deals with problem landlords and properties on a daily basis, focused his remarks on the unacceptable amount of time that it takes for a foreclosed home to end up in front of him. He can’t put a foreclosed house up for sale until the proper legal proceedings have been filed, and currently the turnaround for a city home from time of abandonment until it reaches his desk is approximately two years. In that time it’s difficult to prevent vandalism and arson, actions which often render the home unsalvageable, dooming it to the costly wrecking ball.

It is Nowak’s goal to see these cases reach his desk within six months of abandonment, a change that would allow for many abandoned homes to be turned into valuable properties.

Kathleen Lynch, Sam Magavern, and Anthony Armstrong provided the most facts and figures. They and their organizations have been working together to compile more accurate and thorough data regarding abandoned homes in Western New York. The method that most accurately describes the number of abandoned homes in is tracking the number of addresses that the US Postal Service deems undeliverable. According to a handout assembled by the UB Law School, “the number of undeliverable addresses measured by the Postal Service in Buffalo rose from 15,651 to 19,691 from the fourth quarter of 2005 to the second quarter of 2008.” This trend was visible throughout the city, with few exceptions; the number of West Side and Downtown addresses has grown.

While each panelist focused on his or her own area of expertise, one message resonated throughout the discussion: The current method of destroying homes when the money is available and handing out contracts for new-builds in areas where there is virtually no demand is not working and never has, in Buffalo or anywhere else.

—justin sondel