Jamestown Deputy Director of Housing Policy & Development Kasie Foulk presents on proposed housing ordinances to City Council (March 18, 2024)
Proposed housing ordinances aim to address affordable and quality housing in the city of Jamestown.
Jamestown Deputy Director of Housing Policy & Development Kasie Foulk said in a presentation to City Council that the city’s housing is affordable but “no one wants to live in them,” “A big majority of our problems stem from landlords that are absentee, even if they live here. They just don’t take care of their properties as much as we’d like them to. And then we’ve seen an increase in abandoned and condemned homes that are left uncared for and they become the neighborhood eyesore. And that takes us back to that broken window theory where one is broken and all the houses start to fall in suit.”
Foulk said the Department of Development‘s solutions are to strengthen housing regulations, incentivize and create homeownerships; and to discourage property owners from leaving homes or units vacant or unmaintained for long periods of time.
City of Jamestown Proposed Housing Ordinances Handout
She referenced a study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that suggested vacant and abandoned properties can lower property values as much as by 8% in some municipalities; and that vacant properties can also increase the risk of crime in the area.
Foulk said the vacant property ordinance aims to combat that. She said the proposed fee scale is based on what the cities of Rochester and Binghamton have done, “For year one, it starts at $500 for residential and for commercial it’s $1,000 or 5-cents per square foot, whatever number is higher. That continues up to year five or over which it hits the $2,000 mark or $5,000 with 25-cents per square foot. If there is more than one private dwelling, if it’s a duplex or more, you’re looking at an additional $250 per residential unit.”
Foulk said the rental inspection ordinance is also modeled after a ordinance implemented in Rochester in 2008, “They do their inspections every six years. They’re going to have to decrease that to every three years. But, they also have that honor system where as long as everything is abated and everything comes back with a clean bill of health every time they have an inspection they can waive that inspection. That way they’re not paying the inspection fees. They’re not having someone in their home but that’s something that has to be earned. That’s not just given to property owners.”
Foulk said New York State hopes to have its own rental inspection requirement in place by November of this year, with participation mandatory for all landlords. She said Jamestown’s ordinance could have more stringent regulations.
She said with the nuisance property ordinance, the city is looking at making the language stronger and less subjective than how it’s written now. One of the big changes is that it will have a different fine scale, “Including a receivership into this ordinance. So, if there is an egregious issue and the person is not fixing their property.. corporation counsel can appoint a receiver to take rents and profits from that property and pay to have the nuisance remediated.”
Foulk said a property that has three or more arrests in a 24 month period will be considered a nuisance, per unit. She said properties with police calls due to domestic violence will not be considered qualifying arrests.
City Council will vote on the vacant property and nuisance ordinance at its March 25 voting session. The rental inspection ordinance won’t be voted on until April.
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