The Morning Call picked up on a woke premise that perhaps Allentown should have a special tenant court, which would provide or steer tenants facing evictions to legal council. With such council, tenants have statistically staved off eviction longer.
I happen to know quite a bit about this. For 35 years I operated a number of apartments in center city. In all those years I never received one building code violation, or had one complaint by a tenant. However, I did have to file evictions.
Allentown became a poorer city quite rapidly. Competing social agencies handed out money for rent and security deposit. As news of these giveaways spread to New Jersey and New York, low income people flocked to Allentown.
Allentown now has a large core of low income people. Unfortunately, some of these people are also low-discipline. While they could afford their apartment, paying rent isn't a priority for them. At the same time real estate prices have risen dramatically. Recent landlords need a steady rent flow to meet their debt service.
What would be worse for Allentown than evicted tenants, much worse, would be abandoned buildings.
Detroit is a living or dead example of what unrealistic governance can do to a city. Raise taxes and regulation and some will flee the city. Rather than change policy, they raise taxes even more to offset the flight. A vicious cycle then continues to unravel the ability to make housing profitable and the end result is lots of abandoned buildings. This cycle seems to repeated everywhere by politicians who believe they can force people to provide free housing and make the housing business unprofitable.
ReplyDeleteThey have to know better, they just don't really care.
I'd be curious to know Mayor Mach E's position on the issue of a tenant court.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know the background story on the Mustang Mach E, an electronic sportscar that can go for up to $60 K or more. I wonder how the city intends to use such a car and how they justified such a purchase to the public. The fact that an employee tipped off City Council reminds me of a Pawlowski administration perk. Funny, I love how the staffs in the affluent suburban townships drive around in basic budget sedans while Allentown can afford cars like this one.
DeleteI suspect this will go nowhere. Not because anyone in city government thinks it a bad idea but because Riley and company are very likely the biggest landlords in town now.
ReplyDeleteSuch a process would have little impact on the Center City controlled apartments as they are not low income or subsidized housing. They are largely young, working folks who had sufficient credit to pay "market rates". Others are some empty nesters, gainfully employed who are also able to afford their rents. I doubt much of these tenants are receiving public assistance or on SS disability where money can be tight.
DeleteAnonymous 8:36 Are you so sure young professionals wouldn't make such a process work for them? I'm not.
DeleteYes, just what we need... I see this as just another way to keep non payers, non paying. The priorities are loud exhaust systems, loud music systems, drugs and staying out all night. And, believe it, it only takes one house to decimate an entire block!!! Our block is finally idiot free after 35 years of one gang of idiots after another. All night drug sales, all night music, all night screaming and hollering... etc, etc, etc... and I could go on. And, by the way, no amount of complaining seemed to do much good. It behooves me that I can drive down a street and pick out the problem properties, yet our police just can't seem to figure it out.
ReplyDeleteI see this as the desired outcome to force regular folks out... the end result being the wrecking ball. This was basically foretold to us in The Morning Call articles claiming the whole of center city would be redeveloped.
Anon 8:36 said: “Such a process would have little impact on the Center City controlled apartments as they are not low income or subsidized housing”
ReplyDelete8:36 - I’m not sure that you’re correct that such a process wouldn’t have an impact on City Center, since I’ve talked to tenants who have had to move out because they could no longer afford the rent. Tenants in such situations might try to stave off leaving by using a city-supplied legal process. But that’s a minor quibble.
My larger beef with your comment is when you say the City Center apartments aren’t subsidized housing.
In fact, they’re the largest concentration of subsidized housing units in the city. Only in City Center’s case the subsidy is going to the landlord (in the form or debt service on the buildings) instead of rental assistance to tenants.
Taxpayers need to wake up to that fact as they continue to be fleeced by the arrangement.
my segment today on Radio Molovinsky covers the Strata apartments https://www.blogtalkradio.com/radio_molovinsky
DeleteI agree with your premise the buildings are subsidized. The tenants are not. The latter is what I meant by subsidized housing.
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