February 2023 Housing Quality Task Force update

Hired new code enforcement trainer and added 15 new inspectors who have entered an extensive two-year training program.
Created a cross-functional team City team to target habitually non-compliant landlords and long outstanding Certificate of Occupancy and code violation cases.
Established a dedicated Housing Attorney:
- Brought to court more properties in the last four months than have been brought to court in years.
- Dramatically decreased compliance time to clear violations to weeks instead of years.
- Doubled the amount of demolition hearings.
- Reduced demolition default enforcement from 90 – 120 days to 30 days.
- Finalizing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to establish a list of qualified receivers as a remedy to ongoing litigation.
- Providing point-of-contact for housing inquiries from the community at large.

Increased the scale and effectiveness of the Rochester Land Bank through ARPA funds and is working with over a dozen development partners identified via a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for auction acquisition and transfer.
Ensuring that those purchasing properties at the City’s delinquent tax foreclosure auctions maintain housing quality consistent with City code by:
- Raising the deposit at auction from $1,000 to $5,000.
- Reviewing winning bidders against code enforcement data to determine if the owner has open violations.
A dedicated cross-functional team City team has been created to enhance the vacant property management program to be more comprehensive and proactive.
- A vacant property database has been created and reviewed regularly to strategize on enforcement actions and proposed dispositions.
- Code enforcement is ramping up actions on vacant properties with the worst conditions with more frequent demolition hearings.

The Emergency Hazard Abatement Program, a program where the City hires contractors and bills the landlord if the landlord fails to correct immediate hazards will continue to be funded until repayments by delinquent landlords reach the annual allocation amount.
The City will continue to fund repair and improvement grants and loans to both owner-occupants and landlords in low-income areas.
Working to scale up the RENEW program, a local backbone model that integrates across multiple housing agencies, services, and funding streams to provide “whole-house” rehab.

Provide incentives for new construction to generate new units for homeownership.
The Buy The Block program supports new homeowners by subsidizing the cost of new high-quality, affordable, owneroccupied houses, in which homeowners spend no more than 30% of their income on housing.
- The first cluster of 6 Buy the Block homes on Thomas and Weeger Streets under construction, with completion expected by end of March 2023.
- Remaining 18 homes in this first area expected to be complete by end of 2023.
- Discussions are in the works with development partners for additional phases of the project.