City offers housing rehabilitation loans for homeowners

I have mixed thoughts on the City making loans to residents but I tend to favor this program.

It is far cheaper for taxpayers to give homeowners loans for minor repairs than it is to have code enforcement (or Community Preservation Officers) write tickets and then have the City Attorney file a civil suit against a homeowner.

By doing this, the City is taking a proactive role in combating blighted conditions.  These loans may also help prevent the “need” for the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency to condemn properties as part of that Agency’s fight against blight.

Here is the City’s press release:

 

Does your plumbing leak or your house need a fresh coat of paint? How about other basic safety improvements such as a new roof or repairing faulty wiring or heating to curb high energy costs?

           

If your answer to any of these questions is "yes," but your checkbook balance says it’s out of the question, don't give up: The City of Fullerton may be able to lend you a hand.

           

The City, through its Housing and Community Development Office, offers both deferred and below-market interest rate loans to Fullerton homeowners through its Housing Rehabilitation Program.

The loans are funded through the federal Housing and Urban Development Department's Community Development Block Grant Program, and qualifying homeowners must meet the program’s income criteria and guidelines. .

           

"The goal of the program is to assist low- and moderate-income residents who cannot afford to keep up their homes on their own," explained Sylvia Chavez, housing programs assistant for the city. "By providing them with a way of taking care of their homes, the City is helping protect their quality of life, as well as their property values."

           

Below-market rate loans of up to $65,000 are available for qualified applicants. The loans carry a low interest rate of 6 percent or below, and the maximum repayment period is 15 years.

           

Homeowners unable to qualify for the below-market rate loans may qualify for a deferred loan, Chavez continued. Deferred loans require no monthly payments and no interest, and are reviewed every 15 years for eligibility. The loans come due upon the sale or transfer of the home.

           

Senior citizen homeowners (62 years of age or older) who only receive federal or state financial assistance, such as Social Security or disability, are allowed to bypass the bank application and apply directly for a deferred loan.

           

Applications and further information about the loan programs may be obtained by calling Chavez at (714) 738-6874, or by coming to the Housing and Community Rehabilitation Office on the second floor of Fullerton City Hall,

303 W. Commonwealth Ave.

           

Applications and further information are also available under the Community Development Department section of the City website at www.ci.fullerton.ca.us.

Upcoming Council Meeting

April 19 the Fullerton City Council will vote on a settlement between Pacific Coast Home and the City over last year’s council vote to not approve the West Coyote Hills development.  This item is sure to bring out supporters and opponents of the development.  Go to OpenCoyoteHills.com to see a few of the supporters.

The Council will also vote on the formation of a Citizens’ Committee for review of the 2011 Comprehensive Water Rate Study Report.  With Proposition 218 (1996) on the books, the City Council and staff will need to pull out all of the stops in order to get any support from voters for raising water rates during the worst recession since the Great Depression. 

Also on the agenda is a City-wide clean up effort proposed by the Public Works Department.  The plan is to remove graffiti, replace damaged traffic signs, and improve landscaping throughout Fullerton- also known as urban blight.  The funding will come from several sources.  NONE of the funding will come from the Redevelopment Agency which is responsible for removing urban blight in all of the Redevelopment Areas. 

Based on the maps of the Redevelopment Areas, it would appear that the Redevelopment agency should be contributing substantially to the maintenance costs in their respective areas.  Why aren’t they?

Only a few short weeks ago the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency couldn’t get rid of their cash and assets quick enough.  It’s time for the City Council members to take responsibility for the City they serve and use Redevelopment Agency funds to remove blighted conditions. 

There are other issues on Tuesday's agenda, some important and some not.  I hope you can come out and speak up on the issues, whatever your position may be.

City Attorney's Felonious Fig Tree Fight - Part 1

Standing before the Fullerton City Council January 18, 2011 was Shannon Ellis, a long-time Fullerton resident, mother, Boy Scout mom, West Fullerton Little League team mom, and Fullerton College employee.  Despite her selfless dedication to her husband, children, and West Fullerton neighborhood, she wasn’t at City Hall to receive any awards or certificates.  Instead, Shannon was there to express her frustration for what many are characterizing as the systematic harassment of her family by Fullerton’s Community Preservation officers. 

Shannon gives some background to her problem and explains how she has a pending criminal case as a result of her fig tree. 

 During summer months the fig tree grows quickly and produces fruit.  Admittedly, during these summer months the tree extends beyond her 6-foot tall block wall and over the sidewalk on the other side of the wall, much like others around Fullerton as shown below.

But the Fullerton Community Preservation officers will have none of her fig tree over the wall.  Instead, they will turn a blind eye to similar encroachments like those shown above so that they can focus their combined efforts on eradicating a fig tree from the sleepy 2400 West Olive neighborhood.

Just a few blocks north on West Avenue, residents have felt a similar squeeze by City Hall in the form of parking tickets.    Fullerton police officers have been targeting the neighborhood and citing pickup trucks which are classified by the California Department of Motor Vehicles as commercial vehicles.  Also being cited by the police officers are toy haulers and recreational trailers that are not attached to the tow vehicle. 

These are but a snippet of the gauntlet Fullerton residents and taxpayers face having a Fullerton address. 

Is it just dumb luck that enforcement officials are patrolling West Avenue and West Olive while ignoring neighborhoods in North Fullerton with similar conditions?  Doubtful. 

With the amended ordinances which will make it a crime to leave your trash cans out or throw a tarp to cover your leaking roof having been approved, many residents are concerned just how far the City’s Community Preservation officers will take these issues. 

Despite assurances from “staff” seen here...

...that the ordinances will not be unfairly enforced, the abuse continues.   As mentioned, Shannon is going to trial where she faces jail time and a stiff fine if she is found guilty – for a fig tree that has been cut back and is in full compliance with the Fullerton Municipal Code.   

“We have gone to court half-dozen times now,” Shannon writes in an email to me.  “Each time the city attorney has said we have not done enough…they are never going to be happy with anything we do.”

Unmaintained City-Owned Trees



Moreover, she sees the City as “always out ‘beautifying’…other upscale areas of Fullerton but they barely come around to remove graffiti and trim trees in the areas they are ticketing.”

Shannon notes that she has been charged for not maintaining property she doesn't even own.  Public records do not list her as the property owner.  

"Non-compliant" trees over the public right-of-way

"Non-compliant" trees and cacti over the public right-of-way

Stay tuned, more to come...

Robin Hood and the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency's Wealth Redistribution Program

The Fullerton City Council is responsible for the redistribution of wealth within their City Hall. 

The Fullerton City Council will oversee about $300-million in expenditures for fiscal year 2010-2011.¹  One-third of the budget is allocated for Redevelopment Agency use, while the remaining 2/3, or $200-million, are for the general operation and maintenance of the City. Let’s look at that one-third or $100-million.

The City budget breaks down the source of the Redevelopment Agencies money into two areas.  First is the beginning balance rolled over from last year, which is $86.1-million.  The roll-over is from the previous year’s tax-increment (that portion of property tax revenue above what was typically collected before the establishment of the Agency’s zone), and bond revenue.  The second source of revenue is this year’s tax-increment, estimated at $16.6-million.

Those sources are very non-descript and deserve a little more attention.  Let’s look at who pays the tax-increment and why.



Fullerton Redevelopment
Project Area 3



John Smith purchased a home in 1995 and was paying the standard 1%+2% property taxes on the home until 2000, when the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency rezoned his property which was in an area designated as blighted.  At the moment the new zone was created, the property taxes on his property which were going to the local agencies were frozen.  Any INCREASE in his property taxes caused the additional revenue to be diverted from the local agency (City Hall) and into the hands of the Redevelopment Agency.  The diverted portion is the tax-increment.  This is detrimental to the overall well being of the City because it robs Peter (the police, fire, schools, and infrastructure) to pay Paul (the Redevelopment Agency). 

As if that wasn’t bad enough, it gets worse.  Let’s look at Fullerton Redevelopment Agency’s Project Area 3. This area is bounded on the North by Rolling Hills Drive, on the West by State College Blvd, on the South by Chapman Ave., and on the East by the 57 FWY and portions of Placentia Ave.  Most of the area is Cal State Fullerton property under the jurisdiction of the State, not the City of Fullerton.  That means there is no property tax collected on the State-owned portion.  There are a number of large homes which are considered blighted.  Or are they? 

I believe that nearly ALL of the homes in Project Area 3 are very nice and were only included in the zone so that the Redevelopment Agency would have a stable source of tax revenue.  Now that the project areas have been consolidated into one massive redevelopment project, it begs the question, what does the Redevelopment Agency need the money for?



Notice the homes in the north and westerly areas of this image. 

Most of these homes are in the $500,000-$1-million range and yet they

are all blighted. 



According to the Revised Adopted Budget for Fiscal Year 2010-11, the City Council acting as the Board of Directors of the Redevelopment Agency will spend $2.5-million on salaries and benefits for the Agency’s seven employees.  It will also spend $13.6-million on what the budget describes as “maintenance and support”.  I wonder if that includes conferences in Las Vegas…?  The Agency will also spend $10,000 on “Operating Capital Outlay”. So far, that brings the total to $16.1-million in expenditures.  The budget breaks down the remaining funds into two categories:  current capital projects ($13.9-million) and capital projects in progress ($24.3-million).  That leaves $49.5-million in the bank.  And yet the City Council felt the dire need to use the taxpayer's credit card to pass a $29-million bond in October!  The budget doesn’t go into sufficient detail on appropriations and allocations beyond that.  To find those details, one has to search the Redevelopment Agency’s records.  Save that for another post. 

The objective outlined for Project Area 3 is simple: Cooperate with Cal State Fullerton in efforts to enhance the Arboretum and in university district planning.  So, prior to consolidation, the tax-increment collected from all of those nice homes would go to supporting an arboretum and university district planning.  I had to write that a second time to get it to sink in.  All of those home owners paying property taxes to support those two endeavors.  Many of those homes were built after the Project Area was created, meaning that all or nearly all of the property taxes collected will go to the Redevelopment Agency and NOT to police, fire, education, and infrastructure.  Now that the project areas are merged into one mega project, the property taxes collected from those nice homes in the hills are going towards funding low- to moderate-income housing programs as well as small business loans. 

What makes things worse, yes worse, is that on one hand Redevelopment Agency staff is saying we have a shortage of low-income housing and on the other hand we are pushing low-income families out of the City. 

I have written and rewritten about the Orange County Register’s story on the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency blowing $22.7-million to redistribute Fullerton wealth many times.  You can read the original OC Register story here.

In essence, the Agency evicts families from very low-income and low-income apartments, bulldozes the apartments, and rebuilds nice condos for qualified moderate-income families.  It would be much like rounding up all of Fullerton’s homeless, giving them some money, and dropping them off in another city.  It’s unethical and doesn’t actually solve the problem. 

The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency is now a lumbering beast of debt and growing power that robs from the tax payers and gives to companies specializing in redevelopment projects.  The Agency is constantly growing its sphere of influence but for what purpose?  Officially the Agency exists to remove blighted conditions. Blight exists because the City of Fullerton has long ignored the graffiti, crime, and slum conditions.  The City of Fullerton should have been citing land lords at the first sign of a violation of the municipal code.  The City of Fullerton should have maintained the streets, sidewalks, and parkways.  The Police Department should have been more proactive in preventing crime. 

Of course it’s easy to sit back and Monday night quarter back the path our elected leaders have been taking us down for years.  Determining the best path out of this mess is a little more problematic.  It will first require that our City Council realize that it is time to pull the plug on the redevelopment machine.  It will require strong leadership from people who care about the long-term wellbeing of our city and are not afraid to walk alone. 

It will help to have the support of the public employee associations which should be easily garnered since they stand to directly benefit the most from the dismantling of the Redevelopment Agency.  The Agency has been bleeding the other departments for years.

Borrowing from Lincoln, City Hall should be a government of the people, by the people, for the people.



Fullerton Redevelopment Agency Blows $22,700,000 and Evicts More Than 600 Residents

The OC Register reported July 4th that the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency (FRA) has spent to date $22.7 million tax dollars to rid Fullerton of urban blight and "to build affordable housing" in one neighborhood.  First, who is the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency?  Simply put, the agency is funded by property taxes and bond sales and it is controlled by the Fullerton City Council.  There is no oversight of the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency other than the council members which we elect.

So, how does FRA find vacant land in order to build "affordable housing"?  They don't find it, they make it by purchasing and bulldozing apartments and homes in areas declared to be blighted.  Then they "relocate" the families and flip the property to a private developer to build new condos.  So, what happened to the families that were displaced?  Wait for it.

According to the Project Manager, Charles Kovac, the agency's goal is to revitalize the neighborhood, which has had old, dilapidated homes and high crime rates.  So, the city's response to old homes and high crime is to evict everyone, bulldoze their homes, build a few shiny new condos, and BAM, the problem is solved!  If only it was that easy.

Kovac also says that this neighborhood has apartments that are overcrowded. 

"As an example, one two-bedroom apartment unit that has since been relocated had 15 people living there. We're making it a safer and healthier area to live."

In an attempt to control blight (old homes, too?), high crime, and the City's shortage of affordable housing, the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency evicted more than 100 families who could only afford those blighted old homes and apartments they shared with other family members in this crime-ridden area of Fullerton.  That is absolutely the ridiculous truth about the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency.  Who are they trying to make it safer and healthier for: the displaced families who were the victims of the conditions which the City allowed or the new tenants yet to move in?

Perhaps if the City used their Code Enforcement as leverage against the building owners, it wouldn't be necessary to displace families and raise the odds that tax payers are behind the creation of a new homeless population.  So I will ask again, what happened to those families who were displaced?  Wait for it.

How's this for planning:  The OC Register goes on to say, "Kovac said the agency doesn't know yet how many more properties it will acquire or how much money it will spend."
 
Kovac goes on to say "It's something that depends on whether people are willing to sell."  In my opinion, that is a lie.  The Fullerton Redevelopment Agency goes into a "blighted" area and attempts to negotiate property sales but at the end of the day, they can take what they want through eminent domain.  And all this so that the City of Fullerton can "provide affordable housing".  The last time I checked, the bulldozers were removing affordable housing with tax dollars! 
 
So why use tax dollars to remove affordable housing and then use more tax dollars to subsidize building affordable housing?   And will those displaced families be given an opportunity to live in one of these new condos?  And what ever happened to those displaced families?? 

"The agency has bought a total of 30 properties in the Richman Park area. It also paid more than $1.6 million to relocate 117 households with nearly 600 residents, more than half of whom were 18 years old and younger. Part of the relocation cost is one-time financial assistance to the families."

Ah, so we subsidize the poor to make room for more poor. 

If the City took that $22,700,000 and purchased bank-owned foreclosed homes in Fullerton.  Then the City sold them to very low-, low-, and moderate-income families, I would estimate we could purchase about 53 homes at $425,000 each!  And NO families would be displaced.  In fact, the City could give those living in the "unhealthy, unsafe, crime-infested, congested, and blighted" areas an opportunity to buy one of these homes.  Then, the property taxes would go up (as they would in the redevelopment districts) however ALL of the property tax revenue due to the City would go towards fixing Fullerton rather than perpetuating a bureaucratic fiefdom. 

Currently, the Fullerton Redevelopment Agency skims the difference between the old property tax and the newly adjusted property tax, known as the tax increment, from the general fund.  This tax increment is siphoned away from police, fire, and school districts (although the schools did get some funds recently from the Agency) and is diverted back into perpetuating the bureaucracy.  Meanwhile, our public safety employees are taking pay cuts, families are being displaced, a private developer makes a lot of money, and our taxes and fees continue to rise. 

When will this madness end?  When voters replace the Fullerton City Council incumbent.