YOUNGSTOWN A strategy in the fight on blight

A systematic, uniform approach to housing code enforcement encourages neighborhood investment.
By ROGER G. SMITH
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- There have been many calls over the years to systematically approach the city's housing blight problems.
The latest one came formally Tuesday from Youngstown State University and the North Side Citizens' Coalition.
The plea came from Hunter Morrison, who heads YSU's Center for Urban and Regional Studies, and Talut Rasul, the coalition's executive director. They outlined a proposed partnership for city council's safety committee.
YSU and the coalition want a city code enforcement strategy with a tight focus on the North Side. Inspectors would work intensively within a half-mile of campus, where many students live.
Such an effort would identify who lives in the homes and where money for improvements would come from. Owners willing to sell to the coalition for renovation also might emerge. Finally, properties that need to be demolished would be noted.
The city would follow through -- whether through court or with housing assistance programs -- to assure changes are made.
Improving single houses scattered around a neighborhood doesn't make a difference, Morrison said. Addressing several properties in one spot, however, will create noticeable progress. Progress breeds more progress and that's how neighborhoods turn around, he said. A uniform approach encourages investment by remaining property owners and by banks that finance renovations.
Message will get out
"The message will eventually get out: It's time to reinvest, not disinvest," Morrison said.
In return for the city's commitment, the university and coalition would provide information and other help that the city doesn't have but badly needs.
"We want to be partners with the city in a very focused way," Morrison said. "We need to show progress and uniformity. It starts with systematic code enforcement."
Once the partnership comes up with a successful system, the approach can be applied to other neighborhoods around the city, he said.
Right now, the city mostly conducts code enforcement complaint by complaint, said Bill D'Avignon, deputy director of planning.
Reaction
Council members didn't give a clear answer but didn't register major objections, either.
They wanted to know where the money to conduct such a system would come from. Another concern is pulling inspectors away from other parts of town. Council members are loath to ignore any particular neighborhood.
Morrison said the approach is about strategy -- a geographical focus -- not money. The city wouldn't need more inspectors, just have the ones it has to work differently, he said.
rgsmith@vindy.com