Land trust looks to keep housing affordable

The need for affordable housing has led to a new organization in Oberlin.

Spring this year will bring warmer temperatures, flowers budding and tougher property maintenance code enforcement in Lorain.

On March 11, City Council’s Finance and Claims Committee voted to recommend the full Council consider three ordinances that would result in beefing up code enforcement through the rest of 2019.

Adding six workers and money for supplies would allow Lorain Municipal Court to expand its housing docket, meaning city inspectors can look for more violations and cite property owners into court.

The committee spent more than an hour crunching numbers and listening to Lorain Municipal Court Judge Mark Mihok and Law Director Pat Riley explain the current system and how it could grow.

They compared Lorain Municipal Court’s housing docket to the city of Cleveland’s Housing Court, which has 51 employees and an annual budget of up to $4.9 million.

Mihok, Riley and other city staff visited the court last week and learned some legal methods that Lorain could use in the future to ensure court appearances by landlords and property owners.

Enforce the code

The Cleveland court does not pay for itself, but that is not the point, Riley said.

Rather, it exists to promote a social good, with six housing specialists matching residents with programs to help them pay for property upgrades, he said.

If the houses are improved, the court dismisses the violations, Riley said.

The court also is part of the economic development of the city, he said, because Cleveland leaders recognize the city needs to get rid of decaying housing stock to attract businesses and young people.

Lorain is not as large as Cleveland, but the goal is similar: to get property owners to comply with city codes, Mihok said.

At Lorain’s housing docket, the court generally wants compliance, not punishment, he said.

The harder a property owner makes the court work, the more it will cost them, Mihok said.

But he said the court also does not want to slam someone who has spent thousands of dollars rehabilitating a house.

Council reaction

The housing docket should be rehabilitative — or punitive when need be, said Councilwoman-at-Large Mary Springowski.

At least two Lorain studies have argued revitalizing the city housing stock, along with improving schools and roads, is crucial to the city, Springowski said.

But the city should not go after a 75-year-old resident who has a gutter sagging or a broken shutter, she said.

Springowski also lamented deteriorating homes with “zombie” mortgages, or homes that are foreclosed on, with no tenants, and then legally abandoned by banks.

Ward 2 Councilman Dennis Flores voiced concerns about senior citizens who must live on fixed incomes.

Flores cited a Hamilton Avenue resident who was worried about getting a garage torn down.

Lorain should have a program to assist residents or coordinate volunteers who can help residents, he said.

Flores also suggested having an advocate for seniors in the housing court.

Stricter code enforcement for occupied homes will solve only part of the problem in Lorain, because it will not help the city deal with abandoned homes whose owners are long gone, he said.

Councilman- at- Large Mitch Fallis characterized the problem as a split between bad actors who can afford to fix their homes but don’t, and people who can’t afford the repairs and need help.

Ward 8 Councilman Joshua Thornsberry and Ward 7 Councilman Joe Faga said they supported the court expansion.

Lorain will not have a one-size-fits-all approach to improve the city, said Mayor Chase Ritenauer.

In the discussion, there were competing themes: City officials want to clean up the neighborhoods, but don’t pick on this or that person, Ritenauer said.

The real question is about properly funding the court, the mayor said.

There are many out- comes, but Ritenauer noted Mihok said once they get defendants in the door, outcomes usually are good.

Facts and figures

From Sept. 1, 2018, to Feb. 28, Lorain Municipal Court had 1,066 housing docket hearings, according to figures from Court Administrator Scott Stewart.

Among them, 134 defendants pleaded no contest and 37 pleaded guilty; 140 defendants were found guilty by the court.

There were 138 defendants who failed to appear in court; 205 were dismissed without prejudice and 48 were dismissed.

There were 493 cases in which the court could serve the defendants with proper legal notice to appear in court, but 227 cases with no service on the defendants, meaning the court was not able to deliver the required legal notice to show up for hearings, according to the court figures.