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Council to consider tax sale of 13 blighted properties, SUP for Jefferson Avenue

The agenda for the Monday, June 27 meeting of City Council (PDF) includes a slew of items of specifically local interest:

  • ORD 2016-148 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1118 North 30th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Elderhomes Corporation for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-149 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1333 North 27th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Elderhomes Corporation for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-150 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 2015 Venable Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Elderhomes Corporation for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-151 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 807 North 24th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Elderhomes Corporation for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-152 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1100 North 23rd Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Elderhomes Corporation for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-153 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1217 North 29th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Elderhomes Corporation for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-156 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 824 North 24th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, Inc. for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-157 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 902 North 25th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, Inc. for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-158 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1517 North 35th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, Inc. for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-160 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 805 Chimborazo Boulevard and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Richmond Metropolitan Habitat for Humanity, Inc. for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-162 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1309 North 27th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Better Housing Coalition for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-163 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1313 North 27th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Better Housing Coalition for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-163 To declare that a public necessity exists and to authorize the Chief Administrative Officer or the designee thereof, for and on behalf of the City of Richmond, to acquire, at a tax delinquent judicial sale, the property located at 1313 North 27th Street and to authorize the conveyance of such property for $1,750 to Better Housing Coalition for the purposes of eliminating blight and making such property available for redevelopment.
  • ORD 2016-170 To authorize the special use of the property known as [2415 Jefferson Avenue] for the purpose of authorizing a retail store and two-family attached dwelling with no parking required, upon certain terms and conditions.
  • ORD 2016-182 To amend Ord. No. 2015-73-84, adopted May 15, 2015, which adopted a General Fund Budget for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 and made appropriations pursuant thereto, to transfer funds in the amount of $125,000 from the Department of Economic and Community Development agency and to appropriate $125,000 to a new line item in the Non-Departmental agency for the purpose of making a grant pursuant to Va. Code § 15.2-953(B) to Southside Community Development and Housing Corporation to implement a YouthBuild USA project targeted to up to 32 eligible East End participants between the ages of 16 and 24.

23 comments

Meghanne Ogburn 06/25/2016 at 1:13 PM

I agree Daniil my husband would be interested in purchasing those for much more as well to suit his business!

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Joshua M Williams 06/25/2016 at 6:05 PM

It is my opinion that the “backdoor deals” are some of the sources for our frustration with how the city does business. These properties would never be offered to a regular person for this price. @7 Daniil, your solution to have development agreements is great. It would hold the buyer accountable for restoration, if the buyer fails to meet the agreement, then the property is sold to another or even a non-profit. We do this with other properties citizens purchase for renovations and restoration already. I am honestly more and more frustrated by these practices. Sorry, I could go on forever about this.

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Dubois2 06/26/2016 at 5:13 AM

While I hear the frustration above, I do think that dispersed affordable housing seems like better urban planning than multi-unit projects. Meaning cheaper for taxpayers in the long run, and more humane.

However, I think that anytime a city or any other entity gifts a Np with 5-6 figures, which is certainly the case with lost value at each for these addresses, we have a responsibility to have high expectations and see them enforced. NOT of historical accuracy necessarily, but of true housing affordability, speed of completion, quality of renovation (medium is fine, crappy is not). We should also demand a strong process for seeing the end users invested in the property and the neighborhood.

I would like to see the frustration here turn to responsible citizen oversight of a city whose processes these days seem, at best, sloppy.

And I’m delighted to see a line item for YouthBuild in the east end! GEDs and contractor skills for east end youth? Yes! Youth s with nothing to do are expensive.
That program has done very good things in other places.

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John M 06/26/2016 at 7:41 AM

@Dubois2 – Better Housing Coalition and ElderHomes have been working in the neighborhood for a good while, and have a good track record of doing this kind of work.

Here’s a post from eight years ago recording the houses that BHC had build or renovated at that time (https://chpn.net/2008/08/08/almost-90-houses-by-better-housing-coalition/).

I’m particularly fond of their renovations at 1111 and 1109 North 23rd Street, those houses were *busted*… there’s a before/after of 1111 N 23rd Street here (https://chpn.net/2006/07/12/2-restorations/)

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Jennifer D 06/26/2016 at 1:46 PM

I agree w/Dubois 2. I would prefer to see mixed-income housing in Church Hill rather than flipping for profit and gentrification. But glad to see that people are keeping tabs on the organization that is supposed to be working to this end, and staying vigilant for crony-ism. Interestingly, it looks like ElderHomes Corporation changed its name to Project:Homes, so not sure why its still listed under the old name in the City Council’s report? Anyway, here’s a link to further info on it, with links to 990s (if you click Download Full Nonprofit Portrait, then scroll down to the links to 990s). Lee Householder is making a pretty decent salary heading up this non-profit, but seems like a pretty legit and effective organization at a quick perusal.

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Jennifer D 06/26/2016 at 1:49 PM Reply
Juliellen 06/26/2016 at 6:44 PM

ElderHomes/Project Home and Better Housing Coalition are two of the best organizations I’ve ever encountered in my previous 20 years in the affordable housing field. ElderHomes has also worked in Greater Fulton. I hope that BHC will do so in the future.

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Derek 06/27/2016 at 11:22 AM

I would be more than happy to shell out $1,750 for a lot than the market value of $25,000. How does the city get away with this? Regardless of how “great” the organizations are this good old boy network is ridiculous!!! City Council, quit complaining about no funds if you can’t manage the assets you have!

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James Smith 06/27/2016 at 7:07 PM

The whole point in this is that they were going to tax sale and folks were sitting on them. As a resident I would much rather see the non profits get a chance at building some affordable homes with the this opportunity, especially with the way the market is going.

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Dubois2 06/27/2016 at 8:31 PM

To be clear, I love the engine of for profit renovation. It has brought many good things. And I love dedicated and functional non profits doing good long term work. I have no issue with these sales. I have great issue with the city allowing property to lie vacant, and for allowing slumlordery.
Cut all that out –many other cities take a much firmer line– and between the better elders and Renovators, we will fix most of the houses in Richmond and it will be an even nicer place to live.

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Paul S 06/28/2016 at 9:30 AM

Generally I think if you’re going to put low income seniors in affordable housing a 1BR apartment makes more sense than a 3BR house. The difference in unkeep is immense between an apartment and an old house. But if it going to be a detached house or single family duplex I really hope the siding, roof, crawl space, gutters, masonry and hvac systems are renovated to good as new status by this non-profit. The high costs of repairs these types items is impossible to tackle on a fixed SS income.

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John M 06/28/2016 at 10:09 AM

Better Housing Coalition sells a lot to working people – secretaries, teachers, etc. not necessarily low income seniors.

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Matt Jarreau 06/28/2016 at 2:24 PM

Allot of really good commentary here. I’ve worked with both Private and Public Sectors of the market here in Church Hill for sometime and can see the pros and cons to each.

I certainly agree by opening the bidding to any and everyone the City would in fact net more $$. No doubt about it. Private entities would in fact scoop these properties up, renovate them and the lease or re-sell. This would be a great immediate benefit for the City.

BUT with that same breath I will also say the Public Sector does add value, albeit over a longer time frame vs the instant gratification of the Private Sector. Take for example the 40 new homes and 3 renovated ones on the 1300 Blocks of N 26th, N 27th and N 28th all sold to owner occupants. There is no way the private sector could have acquired and renovated/rebuilt those homes and re-established that entire corridor from 2010 to present. You would have 5-15 entities all buying up little pieces of the puzzle and then speculating on which person would start first and it would take 10-15 years to come to fruition. However RRHA acquired the entire area over a few years and deeded those homes to BHC and project Homes and now 6 years later we know have a blossoming community in this 3 block radius with all sorts of private sector activity in the 1100-1200 Blocks of the same streets.

This is an excellent example of the use of Public Funds to acquire and stabilize an area and when things are “safe” or “economical” the Private sector enters and does in fact benefit. I would certainly argue in this case the City did in fact achieve the best bang for their buck when you look at the overall outcome over a period of 5+ years.

I think this also goes for the 13 properties in the 1100 Block of N 31st ST as well as the 10 properties in the 800 Block of N 27th St…..and so on and so forth.

If you take a close look a the list attached above these homes are in very poor condition and mostly in areas where saving the structures reselling for a profit is very difficult. These I would say are the hard cases thus they went to entities using Public Funds to help off set the expenses of the renovations and then are re-sold to owner occupants. I would also say there are 38 properties that are headed to tax auction that are open to any bidders!

The tragedy of the system is how long it takes to go to auction, some cases years and years of people not paying taxes and properties being demolished before they can be sold and then renovated. I think if there is anything we can do to better this it would be to expedite that process and make it no more than a 5 year deal. I’ve seen properties that haven’t had taxes paid on them since 1996 and they are not in this auction!!!!!

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dontmincewords 07/08/2016 at 7:28 AM

I don’t know if anyone saw this yesterday, but speaks to both points of view and gentrification. http://wpo.st/b4dk1

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Lee 07/08/2016 at 9:48 AM

The only thing that perplexes me about these sorts of programs (and perhaps someone more knowledgeable can fill me in) is this:

If a home is built or renovated by a nonprofit and then sold at a loss or with substantial subsidies of some sort to individuals who otherwise could not afford a new or newly renovated home, what happens in the long term? If the area stabilizes and their homes climb in values, won’t the folks who purchased the homes eventually be forced out by rising real estate taxes? And what about maintaining these homes?

I suppose there could be a pretty decent argument that the socioeconomic benefits of living in a mixed-income area are so great or so important that those benefits actually help folks get ahead financially. But I don’t know what that argument looks like. Again, hopefully someone more knowledgeable can fill me in.

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John M 07/08/2016 at 10:50 AM

Lee – the market for homes up here seem to be the types of folks who can afford the maintence and taxes, but who might have difficulty buying in – from my experience people like teachers and secretaries and the like. In the Fairmount area, this help to stem the tide of vacancy, and really stabilized the neighborhood.

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