To revitalize its campaign against urban blight, New Haven, Conn., is considering giving more control over its struggling efforts at housing renewal to local banks.
Mayor John DeStefano Jr. wants financial institutions to take over the origination and servicing of the city's second-mortgage loan program. The idea is to free government employees to focus on identifying blighted or vacant buildings for renovation or demolition.
"We know that there are banking professionals that can do a better job than city government staff in administering our loans," said Stefan Pryor, the mayor's policy adviser. "That's what they do for a living. They know the procedures and the business better than we do."
The city is preparing to seek specific proposals from financial institutions in May, but the plan isn't scheduled to go into effect until July 1.
It's all part of New Haven's latest program to restore the inner city's health by involving the private sector. The program, dubbed the Livable City Initiative, is being led by a nine-member board. Its chairman is Charles Terrell, president and chief executive of New Haven Savings Bank. He is to help the city review and restructure its loan programs.
Of the 786 vacant buildings throughout the city, 719 are considered blighted. This total, a record for the city, has been growing in recent years because of population flight and job losses.
But instead of resolving the growing problem, city housing officials have been spending about 80% of their time administering New Haven's residential second-mortgage program and others loan programs designed to boost investment in inner-city housing, Mr. Pryor said.
"The goal is to create a more livable city," Mr. Pryor said. "We're transforming the problem into an opportunity."
Officials are also seeking to attack the problem more efficiently by strengthening the anti-blight ordinances, updating state foreclosure law, and permitting more frequent property reassessments. The city also wants to streamline demolition procedures, including bidding, and to sell unused small lots to neighboring property owners to develop.
Finally, officials plan to consolidate housing functions of 10 departments into one city agency and assign neighborhood specialists to each police district to work with community groups on housing problems.
