SOUTH BEND — Irene Britt said she and her sister made an investment when they built a home in the area of Lawndale Avenue and Van Buren Street about 15 years ago.
They lived in the house for a while, but eventually decided to rent it.
"We wanted to keep the house at a certain standard, and that standard would be if I wanted to live in it, I know others would want to live in it also," Britt said.
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Both believedthe addition of sidewalks would bring the house up to that that standard. When they approached the city to see what kind of assistance programs are available, however, Britt said she learned the city expected her and her sister to foot the bill, and only after thatwould they potentially be eligible for reimbursem*nt.
"I was looking all over the place and I was seeing all these sidewalks going up and all these other things going up," Britt said at a community meeting earlier this week. "But we were told that we would have to build the sidewalk and the curb and the city would do something in terms of reimbursem*nt."
Tuesday's forum was another in a series of discussions about affordable housing on the city's west side organized by Henry Davis, second district CommonCouncil member.
The meeting was held at the Charles Black Center andbrought together residents like Britt, developers and communitydevelopers, such as Sam Centellas, former director of La Casa de Amistad. Centellas is now executive director of CDFI Friendly, South Bend—a nonprofit that seeks flexible and affordable options for a variety ofinitiatives, including housing.
Centellas saidthe traditional system for financing home construction and making loans to borrowers is a big barrier for those looking for affordable housing, something that became clear during his time at La Casa.
He knew plenty of renters paying $900 a month to rent a house valued at about $40,000. A bank would not give a loan for that renter to buy that house even though the loan payment would probably be half as much.
"That it is not changeable from the bank's standpoint," he said. "The problem is that on a$40,000 mortgage, the bank makes so little money, and thatis why they don’t do it."
Centellas saida $40,000 loan can be profitable, and CDFI seeks to find creative ways to make those kind of loans.
Several attendees, including developer David Matthews, saidred tape and the city's often opaque and confusing rules stand as a major barrier. Matthews singled out the city's lead-based-paint abatement program, which has distributed only a small fraction of the $1 million allocated to remove the paint from homes in the city, many of which are on the west side.
Developer Ella D'Amico agreed.
"The city'sresponse is we have allthismoney and nobody is taking advantage of it," she said."Itsnot that they can’t take advantage of it, it’s that they can’t get through the red tape.
"The other thing that I am talking about is that there is really a veiled process for really getting anything."
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D'Amico said the city needs to make its application process more transparent and easier to understand as it distributes American Recovery Act money.
"I would like to see those dollars set aside and them being very specific. This is the money, this isthe application, this is the process, this thedeadline," she said. "Everything spelled so you know from A to Z."
Mayoral spokesman Caleb Bauer said that the city will help property owners and renters navigate the application progress to receive funds from the Lead Protection Program.
"That is something we can continue to work on as people apply for that program," Bauer said.
Bauer said that the program is funded though thefederal department of Housing and Urban Development, so the city must follow HUD'sincome guidelines.
One issue that came up during Tuesday's forum is that renters, who would be income eligible, can't apply for the funds because they do not own the affected properties.
However, Bauer said that income eligible renters can apply if they get permission from the landlord to apply.
Several participants said many west side residents, and particularly those from the Black community, have to deal with historical and systematic barriers, ranging from redlining and the loss of industrial jobs and middle class incomes when big employers like Studebaker closed.
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Rick Williams, who has worked with Davis and served as facilitator of the forums, said it's necessary for the community to address the barriers to affordable housing if the problem is going to be addressed.
"Then, we will still have barriers and problems because of unresolved conflicts and unresolved issues," he said.
The forums will resume in January, Davis said. Williams hopes to sit down with lenders and regulators at that time.
