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Date Thu, 25 Jun 1998 093605 -0500
From "Sheryl Foster " <Sheryl_Foster@co.st-louis.mo.us>
Subject Partnerships with Multifamilies
I'm back to pick your brains.
I have been trying to find examples of partnerships betweencommunities and apartment complexes. There is a lot of animosity towards apartment complexes in a community where I am working. Residents claim that there
is overcrowding-people who are living there who shouldn't be, higher crime rates, more disruptions, more transiency especially in the schools. For example, in one school, only one of the sixth graders who graduated
in the 96/97 school year had started there in kindergarten. By the end of the school year, sometimes half of a class did not start the beginning of the school year at the school Some of the actions that are
currently being taken include the school district redrawing boundary lines to distribute apartment complex students.
The police department is also starting a "Don't pass the Trash" program that creates a database for apartments of tenants. The rationale is that problem tenants will appear on the
database and the new complex will not rent to them. This will prevent them from bouncing from complex to complex.
What I am looking for is other actions that can be taken to improve the situation. Is anyone aware of any other projects or partnerships that are being implemented in communities? IT is
critical to create a win/win situation for everyone. Your responses will be appreciated.
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Date Thu, 25 Jun 1998 113504 -0500
From "klingama" <klingama@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Subject Re Partnerships with Multifamilies
Sheryl .....I may not be able to provide much assistance in your efforts right now but I am just beginning to work with an area in Iowa City that has a concentration of low income apartment
complexes. The area has a neighborhood center that has been helpful in coordinating services in the area and they are just beginning to work with the management of the apartments on improving their screening methods
for propective renters. I will keep you apprised as the process moves forward.
DateThu, 25 Jun 1998 135244 -0600
From"Five Points Media Center Corp." <fpmc@5pointsmedia.org>
SubjectRePartnerships with Multifamilies
This is redlining. I believe this is discriminatory. Where would you like
these children to go to school? This sound pretty nationalistic, only
children who were born and raised in the neighborhood are allowed to use
the public education system? I am unclear of what the problem is other
than that the community sound intolerant of newcomers, perhaps minorities
and recent immigrants who may have a different lifestyle than
the longtime
community residents.
>The police department is also starting a "Don't pass the Trash" program
that creates a database for apartments of tenants.
The rationale is that problem tenants will appear on the database and the new complex will not rent to them. This will prevent them from bouncing from complex to complex.
Where would you like these people to live???
Who decided on the term "Trash"? The police or the community. I live in what is known as the students' ghetto in Denver. It is noisy, we have tenant problems with the students moving in and out each semester. . .but this is part of apartment living. Other tenants make noise, have pets you don't like, play music and have children who make noise. I would not tag them as *trash.* And, more importantly I would not want to hurt their chances of finding another place to live.
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DateThu, 25 Jun 1998 154633 -0500
From"Sheryl Foster " <Sheryl_Foster@co.st-louis.mo.us>
SubjectRePartnerships with Multifamilies
I hear what you are saying. I should at least clarify a little better what I'm interested in.
I told the group of residents that bulldozing the apartment complexes would not be an option, so I'm exploring other options. Some things I'm investigating are ways to prolong tenure in the apartments, instead of tenants moving in for a month or two, then have their posessions on the street. Also, working with local government/school district to make sure everyone who is living there is supposed to.
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Date Thu, 25 Jun 1998 162141 -0600
From"Five Points Media Center Corp." <fpmc@5pointsmedia.org>
SubjectRePartnerships with Multifamilies
Again, what do you mean by *everyone who is living there is supposed to.*Who is going to select who can live there, what is the criteria?
I think it is obvious why there is tension. This sounds like a classic case of NIMBY - Not in my backyard.
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From"Sheryl Foster " <Sheryl_Foster@co.st-louis.mo.us>
SubjectRePartnerships with Multifamilies- Another clarification
Another clarification.
Yes, obviously it's NIMBY among other things. What I meant by having people living there who are supposed to is that the parties who are on the lease are the only ones inhabiting the unit. There have been problems with friends and family staying indefinitely, which creates overcrowding. This phenomenon also is linked to the school transiency and supposedly a variety of other disruptions. This situation has implications about affordable housing and other broad issues. However, I would like to work on the micro level in this particular instance. Obviously, the residents' perceptions and attitudes leave something to be desired. What I'm trying to do as a neighborhood planner is stabilize the community and find mechanisms to do such.
I hope I have explained everything. If not, we could iron out what I am trying to say off the list to prevent excessive e-mail.
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Alma Williams
Phoenix, AZ
SubjectRePartnerships with Multifamilies
Phoenix has a program - which it copied from Mesa - called "Crime Free Multi-Housing." Apartment owners and managers are taught how to screen tenants, given indoor and outdoor
signs, certification and tools to use to evict those who engage in unlawful activity. I *think* there is a component similar to DPtT. You might try to contact Officer Connie Stine for more info. *If* she is on the
net, her address would be<cstine@ci.phoenix.az.us>. If that doesn't work, let me know.
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Janet Maccubbin
ICF Kaiser
jmaccubbin@icfkaiser.com
I want to combine these two trends for a moment and hope that I haven't missedthe message when this was discussed. It's getting harder to keep up with this list these days.
Over the last two weeks I have spent time with HUD-assisted Multifamily owners and managers in Houston and Boston.
All of them struggling with many of the issues I've heard described here. Isolationism, increased stress (due to loss of welfare subsidies) and workplace violence were just some of the issues these communities were facing. What was different about this group of folks was that all of them had taken advantage of a HUD initiative called Neighborhood Networks. This initiative is offered by HUD to HUD-insured and assisted multifamily housing properties. It funds computer equipment, job and educational training, and staff (normally just one) to support the center.
HUD's hope is that these resources will attract and/or the staff will coordinate other social services needed to assist residents in getting back to work (e.g. daycare, transporation, support
counseling, etc.). And from what I have seen, it seems to be working.
What these folks have found, especially in areas of high transition, is that this program helps bring stability to the community. Residents stopped focusing on themselves and started
focusing on how to improve their lives.
In Farmington, MA, the Neighborhood Networks center coordinator is in constant e- mail contact with the schools. Kids after school programs are structured to support what they do during the day. And when a kid gets kicked out of school, they have to come to the computer center and continue their school work, right there.
What many managers have also found is that having a computer center with educational programs is a launching pad to building other partnerships with community organizations.
An example is the school partnership above, but others described partnerships with the police department, social services, churches and even residents living in the neighborhood surrounding the multifamily development. Training at the computer center when it was opened to residents outside the low income development, changed people's preception of the apartment complex itself. Instead of something that brought down the community everything and everyone was working together to bring it up.
Yes, careful tenant screening does play an important role, in fact most managers with NN centers, said they were getting a better tenant mix because of the center.
Applicants when asked why they wanted to live at the complex were beginning to answer "because I can go to school for free" as opposed to just "I want to get out of the shelter." Other benefits included reduced utility costs (because residents were working more, or spending more time in the center rather than in their apartment) and less vandalism and maintenence costs (because residents took more pride in their community).
If you don't know if your apartment complex is eligible for the Neighborhood Networks initiative, give me a call at the office (703)218-2783.
I'll look the property up in a database and we can talk about if it is eligible and how you might get started.
Best wishes,
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