JOINT COMMITTEE ON REDEVELOPMENT OF ABANDONED AND FORECLOSED HOMES

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes JOINT COMMITTEE ON REDEVELOPMENT OF ABANDONED AND FORECLOSED HOMES ALD. ROBERT BAUMAN, CHAIR Spencer Coggs, Preston Cole, Mario Higgins, Ald. Khalif Rainey, Antonio Perez, Maria Prioletta, and Ald. Russell Stamper, II. Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, 286-2231 Fax: 286-3456, lelmer@milwaukee.gov Legislative Liaison: Aaron Cadle, 286-8666, acadle@milwaukee.gov Tuesday, January 16, 2018 10:00 AM City Hall, Room 301-B 1. Review and approval of the November 27th minutes. Meeting convened: 10:06 A.M. (Antonio Perez arrived at 10:10 A.M.) Members excused: Khalif Rainey; Jim Klajbor present for Spencer Coggs. Mr. Cole moved, seconded by Mr. Klajbor, for approval of the minutes. There were no objections. 2. Discussion relating to 1234 S. 17th Street and 1518 W. Washington St. with the Dept. of Neighborhood Services, Dept. of City Development and the City Attorney's Office. Ald. Jose Perez asked that these items be added to the agenda. 1234 S. 7th Streeet is a rear cottage that is owned by a family and the property in front is a city-owned property and it was scheduled for demolition. The front property's water and sewer lines supply the rear property. It has not been demolished and twice so far with the cold weather the city has had to heat up the pipes so the rear property has water. The rear cottage has no water meter as it is run through the front property. Ms. Amy Turim said there are 10 city-owned properties where this chain occurs between two or more properties. The department did talk to other departments as the property owner has to establish a new water service from the street. Ald. Perez said that the city split up the tax keys that were originally one tax key. Assistant City Attorney (ACA) Tom Miller said it is a private matter between two property owners and there is a Public Service Commission decision that a property has to have its own service line and cannot connect to someone else's line. Ms. Jennifer Gonda, Water Works, said they are researching what they can do legally. The pipes also tend to be lead. Ms. Turim said there are approximately 180 addresses like this, but the city is also not always aware of these connections. Tom Mishefske, Dept. of Neighborhood Services, said there would also need to be an easement across the city property or the sale of the front property to the rear cottage. ACA Gregg Hagopian said a disclosure would be made if the city is aware of the situation. If the city is not the owner, then that is also an issue. The city could notify the owners, but there is also a "slander of title" if a third party puts a statement on a title which is not their property. The state legislature also will not support any "due on sale" requirements. Per Ms. Gonda, the lead-service line ordinance will also need to be amended. Mr. Cole also suggested adding this as an item that could be paid for through the City of Milwaukee Page 1 JOINT COMMITTEE ON Meeting Minutes January 16, 2018 REDEVELOPMENT OF ABANDONED AND FORECLOSED HOMES Compliance Loan program, but that is only open to owner-occupied properties and some of these property made be occupied by tenants. Mr. Cole wanted to move this item to the Strong Neighborhoods Working Group, which the chair did. This will also be on the next agenda. 1518 W. Washington St. -this property was acquired by the city through a court procedure and there are prostitution and nuisance behavior occurring at this property even while owned by the city. Kale Decker, ACA, said the title is still owned by Mr. Choudry and it is being managed by Ogden. He needs to check with Ogden, the property manager, as to why this occurred. This is the only problem property that Ogden is managing and overall the portfolio of properties is doing well. Ald. Perez is concerned as this person was on the lease despite being convicted of drug dealing at another property. The only real option the city has is to terminate the receivership. 3. Communication from the Department of City Development on Housing Infrastructure Preservation Fund Activities. No new activity, according to the program manager 4. Communication from the Department of City Development on the Lease-to-Own Program. Ms. Rhonda Szallai, Dept. of City Development, said they have closed 45 houses since 2014 and they have 9 individuals in process. Ald. Stamper asked if the original owner can get the property back, but that is done through the in rem procedure and Ms. Karen Taylor said that the original owner can become a renter if amenable to that. Ms. Amy Turim said the original owner typically has 30-60 days to vacate the premises and the person lives there rent-free during that time. 5. Communication from the Department of City Development relating to the Rehabilitation to Rent Program. Ms. Amy Turim said 4 single-family homes are rented and they have exceeded the Small Business Enterprise and Resident Preference Program goals. Overall they're finding the homes were in tougher condition than they expected and incurred higher costs than originally thought. A fifth property is nearly completed. 6. Communication from the Department of City Development on the Strong Home Loan Program. Mr. Larry Kilmer said that through 2017, 105 loans were approved and closed and there are 54 applications in process. There is still a high level of interest. Ms. Prioletta said strong loans have been used to repair laterals. As the years go on, more folks and community members become aware of the program. 7. Communication from the Mayor's Office, Department of City Development, and the City Attorney's Office relating to activities, revenue and expenditures of the Strong Neighborhoods Plan. City of Milwaukee Page 2 JOINT COMMITTEE ON Meeting Minutes January 16, 2018 REDEVELOPMENT OF ABANDONED AND FORECLOSED HOMES This was held as it's early in the year. 8. Communication from the Department of Neighborhood Services relating to the Compliance Loan Program. Mr. Tom Mishefske said 53 projects were approved in 2017 and the average loan amount was around $13,000 with the owners averaging 59 years of age with an average income of $20,000. The program is serving its target audience and resulting in code corrections. The funding in 2017 was $800,000 and will be the same in 2018. There are 30 individuals in the pipeline for this program. 9. Communication from the Department of Neighborhood Services relating to demolition and deconstruction. Mr. Tom Mishefske said the new deconstruction ordinance is a big change for homeowners and contractors. The draft rules created by the Commissioner have been approved and are now online. They have 3 interim designations for deconstruction contractors and one for a deconstruction consultant, who works for WasteCap. They have put out a bid for 8 deconstruction contracts and the proposals are due Feb. 1 - this is the first bid package. Seven private deconstruction permits to raze have been applied for. A press event will be done when the deconstructions begins with 5 of the 8 properties being in A.D. 15. 10. Communication from the Treasurer's Office, Department of Neighborhood Services and the City Attorney's Office relating to efforts to pierce the corporate veil of legal entities such as LLC's that own real property in the City of Milwaukee in order to expedite the collection of funds owed the city and to expedite compliance with DNS orders. Adam Stephens, ACA, provided an update for the file and Ald. Bauman had some questions about the document. If Mr. Rasheed does not meet the deadline by Thursday to sell his properties then the court can either extend the deadline or appoint a receiver. The city also has 48 hours to review the potential buyers. 11. Public Comment No members of the public present. 12. Set next meeting date. Feb. 26th at 10 a.m. Meeting adjourned: 11:07 A.M. Linda M. Elmer Staff Assistant This meeting can be viewed in its entirety through the City's Legislative Research Center at http://milwaukee.legistar.com/calendar. 13. 171233 Communication relating to the 2018 activities of the Joint Committee on the Redevelopment of Abandoned and Foreclosed Homes. Sponsors: THE CHAIR City of Milwaukee Page 3 JOINT COMMITTEE ON Meeting Minutes January 16, 2018 REDEVELOPMENT OF ABANDONED AND FORECLOSED HOMES City of Milwaukee Page 4