Story Created:
Oct 15, 2007 at 6:45 PM EST
Story Updated:
Jul 17, 2008 at 12:00 PM EST
(WSBT) Vacant and abandoned houses are a big problem around South Bend. In a recent WSBT-South Bend Tribune poll, almost 60 percent of the people polled said they were concerned about the number of vacant houses.
If you drive down just about any street on South Bend's west side, you'll see them.
"It's a breeding ground for crime, for rape and for arson," said Republican mayoral candidate Juan Manigault.
"We need to get rid of them because they attract criminal elements and they affect people's psyche," said incumbent mayor Steve Luecke.
Luecke says the city has worked aggressively to rid neighborhoods of the houses. His Vacant and Abandoned Housing Strategy is spending $3.5 million in a three year plan to acquire and demolish the eyesores.
"You're seeing on Cushing and Cottage Grove, renovations of older homes, beautiful homes, that are bringing people back into these older neighborhoods and helping the broader area feel comfortable reinvesting in their homes," he said.
Both candidates have plans to sell homes for $1 in return for a specific investment in the property and a commitment to live there.
The mayor announced his plan in August and said he expected the first homes to be sold by October. So far, none have changed hands because the program has not officially been started. It's waiting for approval from the Common Council. It will consider the proposal on Monday.
"Within the next month, we'll have all the parameters in place to bring the public a full program," he said.
The mayor says if the Common Council approves putting the program under the authority of the Board of Works, it will allow for more grant potential. He says already, they've received 100 calls from people interested in taking part.
The mayor also want to encourage developers to build new houses in old neighborhoods. Manigault says he's in favor of renovation over demolition.
"If you tear a house down and spend $40,000 and then rebuild a house and spend $60,000, you've spent $100,000. You could renovate and bring up to code five houses for the cost of demolishing and reconstructing one house," he said.
The mayor says redeveloping some areas isn't feasible because the types of homes people are looking for have changed over the years.
"We've got a lot of neighborhoods where we have 800 square foot homes on 40 foot wide lots and that's not what people are looking for," he said.
A bigger obstacle is crime in some of the older neighborhoods. Both candidates admit it's difficult to get people to invest in neighborhoods when there are drug houses or people are scared. Manigault says crime crackdowns are a necessity year round.
"Using federal or state law to drive those houses not just out of that neighborhood, because they'll simply move to another neighborhood. But following those people and driving them out of South Bend," he said.
"New life in the neighborhood helps drive that criminal element out," he said.
The mayor says the city doesn't need more code enforcement officers to get property owners to clean up their property. He says absentee landlords know how to work the system to their advantage.
"The code inspectors have probably cited the properties that are a problem, it's really being able to get the proper response out of the owners that becomes the difficulty," Luecke said.
Manigault says if landlords are getting around the system, he would pursue federal laws to help.
"And if we can't address it that way, then the mayor needs to step up and work with the legislature to pass new state laws that give the cities the right to enforce these city codes."
Manigault says he'd like to combine Code Enforcement, Animal Control and Community Development into one department. He says they're often tied together when trying to get property cleaned up.
