All Pawtucket All The Time

Wednesday October 22, 2008

Grebien announces 8-point plan to address

local fallout from foreclosure/abandoned housing crisis

PAWTUCKET – Concerned that the local fallout from the ongoing foreclosed and abandoned housing crisis is not being systematically addressed in the city, City Councilor-at-large and mayoral candidate Don Grebien today announced an 8-point plan to protect foreclosed and abandoned properties, and the public’s safety, while also looking out for the city’s pocketbook.

“The foreclosure crisis is a national problem that literally hits home hard in Pawtucket, where we have scores of boarded-up and vacant properties that invite vandalism and worse, including an increased risk of accidental fires or arson,” Grebien, a candidate for mayor in the Nov. 4 election, said in a news release.

“While these properties are tied up in legalities they are also not producing revenue that in turn could throw our already tight budget projections out of whack,” he said. “They can also all too easily be turned into havens for criminal elements like drug users and drug dealers.”

Grebien said his first step would be to compile an updated, detailed list of every foreclosed and abandoned property in the city, or those in danger of entering that status such as properties in arrears more than 90 days, including by legal address, tax status and owner of record, as well as those listed for upcoming foreclosure proceedings to stay as proactive as possible.

 He noted the city administration has taken no steps to disclose any such list to City Council members or other elected officials nor to inform the public. “Communication is vital. Minimally, the people of this city deserve better than living in a vacuum of no public information being communicated to them whatsoever on this important issue,” Grebien said.

Although Mayor Doyle in the recent PADS-sponsored debate at the Gamm Theatre insisted there were no boarded up properties anywhere in Pawtucket, Grebien said volunteers for his campaign had in a matter of hours, and without benefit of any city list, compiled numerous photos of boarded properties.

In highlights, Grebien also called for:   Making sure foreclosed properties are professionally secured, with the expense to be borne by the current owner; imposition of city liens, for which the eventual owner would be responsible, for any costs to secure the properties;  aggressive enforcement by city minimum housing officials to assure compliance with housing standards; and legal use of the receivership powers set by city ordinance to take possession of neglected properties and remedy any deficiencies so they can be resold to recoup all taxes and fees.

The fifth-term councilor said foreclosed and abandoned properties, which are also often targets for illegal temporary occupation by the homeless, pose a health and safety risk not only for city neighborhoods but also to the police and fire personnel who are the first responders in any emergency.

Such properties are also frequent targets of thieves who strip copper, wiring and other valuable fixtures for sale, further driving down the properties’ value and making them more difficult to later sell or rehabilitate, Grebien said.

To date,  said Grebien, the city has announced no public plan to deal with the growing crisis. He also noted the city has a list of 560 properties, which he had to obtain through a public information request, that are abandoned, foreclosed or otherwise troubled or potentially troubled properties

“We don’t even know the full extent of the problem, or if it has been determined by the city. But we do know that next door in Central Falls,  a community with a quarter of the population of Pawtucket, approximately 150 such properties have been identified with likely many more yet to be discovered. But at least Central Falls has a plan in place and has begun to address it,” he said.

 ”The receivership provision written into city law is a powerful tool to enforce compliance that the current administration has simply refused to use. If ever there was a time to use it, certainly this is it.”

He said prior administrations found it an effective tool, including to remedy a long-standing blighted property on Walcott Street that had long plagued neighbors including St. Raphael Academy.

Grebien also called for holding increased or special sessions of the city Minimum Housing Court, during hours more convenient to the public if necessary, to expedite the review process until the problem can be brought under better control.

“Many experts are predicting the foreclosure crisis will extend well into next year. The problems it will continue to bring here in Pawtucket will not disappear by not addressing them and just hoping they will go away,” Grebien said.