Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization

"During the past several years, housing conditions and the housing market have been a preeminent concern in Syracuse. A great deal of effort and resources have been aimed at rehabilitating housing, promoting home ownership, addressing the problem of abandoned property, and generally improving housing options….Housing is only part of what keeps a neighborhood healthy…Visionary leadership and planning are essential ingredients to the sustainability of healthy neighborhoods."

Source: "Housing and Neighborhoods: Tools for Change",
Onondaga Citizens League, 2000 Study Report

 

Introduction

City government affects Housing and Neighborhood revitalization through the Department of Community Development. "Community development" is a set of activities designed to maintain, enhance and grow the City’s neighborhoods.

The focus for the City is on supporting the maintenance of the housing stock and replacing it when it is no longer "maintainable;" supporting existing and creating new neighborhood-based businesses that are owned and operated by neighborhood residents; and maintaining a suitable residential environment including maintenance and development of public parks and recreations areas as well as the sponsorship of cultural activities.

Although many community development activities have an impact on economic development, the functions of community and economic development are distinct. The focusof community development is on the individual citizen, the neighborhood condition, and the delivery and utilization of services for those citizens; economic development is focused on business and industry concerns, support, growth and incentives for development.

Both development activities achieve common desired results — supporting and improving the quality of life for city neighborhoods as well as enhancing the City’s economic base, yet the narrowest focus decreases the work burden and affords the administration a more efficient vehicle for addressing neighborhood needs.

Background

Neighborhoods

Syracuse is a dynamic residential city, offering a variety of opportunities for neighborhood living. SOCPA has defined 26 distinct neighborhoods in the City, most providing a unique and different residential platform. These include a range of living situations: apartment living in the downtown center; transient rental living in a university environment near Syracuse University or LeMoyne College; older, established homes in Sedgwick or Strathmore; to close-knit neighborhoods like the Northside; residing in hilly terrain on the Far Westside; residing in a protected valley in the Valley and South Valley neighborhood; and even living in a quasi-suburban, more rural setting like the Meadowbrook neighborhood.

In summary, Syracuse has a variety of neighborhoods, all of which include residential living, supportive service business for the neighborhoods and, to a degree, developing economic activity. While some neighborhoods, like the Downtown, Lakefront and University Hill neighborhood, have burgeoning economic development taking place, the City must not forget the residential components of those neighborhoods, and that the residential component of other neighborhoods is just as important.

Additionally, the City must not forget that some of the best resources and focal points in these neighborhoods need to be supported, developed, and marketed. The City once had a nationally-acclaimed park system with parks, monuments, and public spaces saturating each neighborhood. These structures are still there, but are in need of repair, upkeep, and modernization. We are also a City which contains two golf courses within its borders, which has arterial creeks which flow through it, and which has a lakefront and inner harbor which have gone underutilized for the natural resources they are.

Housing Components

The specific attraction to all of these neighborhoods is the variety of housing stock that Syracuse possesses. Unfortunately, this tremendous resource and asset has been neglected and ignored for too long and is on the doorstep of failure.

Unlike many upstate cities, Syracuse has a housing stock with attributes that reflect the history of economic success and workforce habitation. Most neighborhoods feature homes that were built prior to 1940. These homes were built to withstand time, provide extensive interior space, allow for front porches for communal interaction, and were architecturally pleasing to the eye.

However, through years of population decline, increased absenteeism by property owners, and the lack of specific progressive City activity in realizing and preserving this resource, many of the buildings that were once a potential enticement for new residents are now targeted for demolition. The Syracuse housing situation should never have been allowed to deteriorate this far.

Most disappointing is the lack of success on the part of the City to preserve historical landmarks and buildings in all of our neighborhoods through the National Registry, the New York State Historical Landmarks program or even a Syracuse City Historical Preservation program.

Social/Cultural Components

When one engages in the discussion of what makes a neighborhood and where its development needs are, housing stock and natural resources are but part of the picture. A neighborhood is also distinct because of its social and cultural functions and resources.

As you have read in my Education response, neighborhood schools, once the hallmark of many neighborhoods, must be brought to life to renew the integrity, pride and community spirit of the City’s neighborhoods. While our diverse population offers all citizens tremendous rewards and benefits, it is incumbent upon the City to provide each neighborhood with a central point for the celebration of its own identity and strength.

The partnership between the City and neighborhoods requires an understanding of the social and cultural needs of those neighborhoods, the acknowledgement of the resources of that community (e.g., churches, not-for-profit organizations, athletic organizations, community groups, or recreational clubs), and the willingness to realize that government may not always be the best vehicle for providing services to the community. City government provides a great role in leadership and resource allocation that is necessary for the continuation of quality of life for city residents.

Neighborhood Assets

Physical

  • 26 neighborhoods
  • Lakefront
  • Nationally-acclaimed park system
  • Two golf courses
  • Neighborhood housing stock

Social

  • Diverse population
  • Department of Social Services
  • Syracuse Community Health Center
  • Syracuse City School District
  • Nonprofit human service agencies
  • Syracuse Housing Authority

Cultural

  • Churches
  • Recreational groups and clubs
  • Athletic organizations

Problem Identification

The market for Syracuse’s housing has been deteriorating for decades. The migration of residents from the City to the areas outside the City is well-documented, and mirrors a pattern that has been repeated in most industrial cities of the Northeast. Since 1990, the City has lost 16,000 people. Doug Southerland, a local developer, has calculated that the City has a surplus of several thousand housing units. Add to this a lack of any effective City initiative for the preservation and rehabilitation of the decades-old housing stock and years of neglect exacerbate the problems of our neighborhoods.

Our existing governmental structures at the local level are the City and Onondaga County. They were not designed to handle the challenges that face our urban community. In addition, the traditional City-County rivalry that local residents have tolerated for years only adds to the structural shortcomings of government interaction, resulting in a further dislocation of the neighborhood and housing stock from the resources they need. The end result of this dysfunctional structure is the creation of barriers to developing the best solutions.

There are other barriers that are created by our political system. The best discussion, the best strategic plan development, the best implementation, the most fiscally sound practices, and the best results for area residents are not considered. More often, the result decided upon is done for a political constituency that may not be identical to area residents.

The City government already has an existing statutory and/or regulatory role to play in many of these areas, but its roles have not been focused, coordinated, nor well-managed in their development and implementation. Even within City government, many times, governmental programs work at cross-purposes. The deterioration of the City’s housing stock is a good example of this kind of problem. Drug raids conducted by the Police Department often result in the destruction of the dwelling unit. Or assessment policy discourages private investment in residential neighborhoods.

Resources of all types have become very scarce. Wasteful practices that result from the kind of activity described above are no longer tolerable. Squandering the resources of Syracuse and Onondaga County will lead to the economic demise of the region. The City that is in economic decline will only suffer more of the same. That means that, in the not too distant future, the City will cease to exist as we know it today unless strategic action is taken immediately.

Objectives

  1. To develop a strategic design plan for each city neighborhood;
  2. To provide market amenities for each neighborhood;
  3. To capture a portion of the suburban housing market demand; and
  4. To reduce the out-migration of current city residents.

Methods for Achievement

1. The maintenance, enhancement and growth of the City’s neighborhood economic system including property ownership, financing, and commercial operations:

  • Create Neighborhood Improvement Plans like the Lincoln Hill Plan being implemented through Syracuse Neighborhood Initiative.

    The Lewis Administration will seek private sector support to continue a relationship with the nationally-recognized urban planner, Andres Duany, to assist in the planning process. With Duany’s supervision, the Community Development Department will initiate the planning by preparing an inventory of property in a neighborhood. The City’s automated database has been accumulating information on each property in the City since 1985. The data includes most of the information necessary for a design inventory: property description, ownership, sales, permits, taxation, special assessments, code violations and corrective action, and water billing and payment history. This information can be correlated with the GIS data being compiled by SOCPA and the City’s Department of Engineering.

  • Provide tax-exempt financing for improvements and new construction.
  • Establish an official relationship with the rental property owners to preserve the economic and physical vitality of the City’s rental property.

    High turnover rates coupled with high vacancy rates have undermined the City’s rental housing market. Government can be a prime player in stabilizing that market. Many renters have a relationship with public agencies. There are more than 4,000 units of privately-owned housing participating in the federal Section 8 Rental Assistance Program. The Syracuse Housing Authority administers this program. Another group of renters receive assistance from the Social Security disability program. Estimates range as high as 8,000 individuals living in the City. Many are not receiving the benefit of related social services to address widespread needs which are prevalent among many of these low-income individuals and families.

    I have conducted several meetings with private landlords to address this issue. The City can provide positive incentives for long-term tenants. Code Enforcement can be combined with finance options to encourage maintenance of property. Tenant Councils can develop constructive programs to promote landlord and tenant responsibility. Communication can be improved through the neighborhood ombudsman to deal with residence issues at the neighborhood level. Finally, the City can boost demand for rental housing by reducing overcrowding and by providing opportunities for our adolescent nomad population to sink roots in a community.

  • Revise assessment policy to promote urban investment by linking assessments to the actual selling prices of comparable properties.

    Current City policy is to maintain assessments at the highest possible level to maximize property tax revenue. Commercial property owners retain real estate professionals to apply on a regular basis for reductions in their assessments. Residential owners generally bring their own cases to the Board of Assessment Review. More than 500 cases were heard in this last grievance period. The changes were minor for the residential group. Many times the process produced more frustration for homeowners, questioning their decision to remain in the City.

    The Lewis Administration will create a Residential Sales Index. The Index will establish a neighborhood-based residential property value and classification system so that market values of comparable properties can be used to adjust assessments annually. The Index will be determined by the actual sales of properties recorded by the Board of Realtors or a similar trade association. The City’s existing property tax database will be used to produce the Index.

  • Provide a Residential PILOT to give residential property owners an incentive to invest in improvements to their property.

    For owner-occupants, improvements, which would normally result in an increased assessment, would be exempt from additional assessment until the property is sold. This would be accomplished by extending a limited little-used provision of the Real Property Tax Law to the remainder of the City. In the past years, about 300 property owners have utilized this mechanism. The Lewis Administration will pursue legislation to extend the benefit to the whole City and to eliminate the phase-out provision of the current program.

  • Adopt design standards for stand-alone retail establishments

    Adopt design standards for stand-alone retail establishments and work creatively with developers to assure that neighborhoods realize economic benefits without sacrificing their unique urban character. In many of our traditional neighborhoods, commercial and retail businesses have not been able to maintain viability. This is due in part to competition from larger, more remote entities. They have been replaced with stand-alone multi-purpose stores that sell everything from prescription drugs to motor oil. In several cases, the new stores have changed the character of the neighborhood. The Lewis Administration will work with the Planning Commission to recommend design standards to guide future development

  • Create an Employer-Assisted Housing Program to attract new homeowners to targeted Syracuse neighborhoods.

    The Lewis Administration will implement a program for Syracuse City employees as well as work with other area employers to provide financial incentives for employees to purchase homes within the City. Syracuse University has such a plan for employees to purchase homes in a specific catchment area near the University and serves as a model for other organizations to follow. These programs would benefit both the employer and employee through increased job retention, increased interest in neighborhood revitalization, and increased investment in the area.

  • Implement an Equity Assurance Program to attract new and retain existing homeowners in targeted neighborhoods.

    Participants would purchase a low-cost "insurance plan" that would guarantee the equity in their home should they choose to move after five or more years. Chicago’s Southwest Home Equity Assurance Program is a true model for this approach. Not only have they retained over three-quarters of their original homeowners since inception, but also they have expanded the program to include low- and no-interest home improvement loans. My proposal for a community bank (see below) could provide such assistance. The Lewis Administration would partner with relevant community, government, and nonprofit leaders to capitalize an Equity Assurance Fund for Syracuse.

2. The marketability of urban neighborhoods is dependent on our ability to provide amenities that are not available in suburban areas at a cost that young families can afford.

Each of the City’s 26 neighborhoods has distinct needs and specific resources. One amenity common to all neighborhoods is the proximity of most facilities. Our urban neighborhoods have walk-to parks, walk-to stores, walk-to churches, walk-to schools, and walk-to friends.

To take advantage of this unique urban characteristic, the Lewis Administration will facilitate the creation of new amenities for neighborhood residents, including recreational opportunities and planned community sites such as:

  • Community Schools

    "Community schools" are neighborhood facilities that serve as a base for municipal and county services. Often they are connected to a school at the heart of the neighborhood. (See the description of Community Schools in the section on Education

    for details.)
  • Urban Market Task Force

    As Mayor, I would work with the Greater Syracuse Board of Realtors, TNT, and other city housing agencies to create an ‘Urban Market Task Force." It would be based on Rochester’s HOMEROOM program.

  • Tailored Housing Communities

    Existing housing can be given new market life by creating community clusters where many quality-of-life amenities are readily available. For example, a block of ranch houses on the north side of the City could be transformed into a senior living community, where a skilled nursing medical facility, corner store, eateries, and other services would be within walking distance or easily accessible by bus.

  • Youth Campus Communities

    Many youth who have not become participating members of the community are living "on the streets." The Lewis Administration will work with existing housing facilities that are currently underutilized to provide supportive living arrangements for our young people who have no permanent address.

  • Parks

    Infrastructure improvements, including parks and bikeways, can be effective tools for marketing urban neighborhoods. Syracuse’s parks, public spaces and monuments provide an invaluable quality-of-life quotient for retaining and even attracting middle class dwellers in the City. Bike paths can be added, extending through much of the City and connecting public spaces throughout the community. The Parks Department will be reorganized along neighborhood lines to create an attitude of stewardship and pride in our parks systems.

  • Bikeways

    The concept of local residents being able to cycle to stores, church, work and social activities has much appeal. It fits in with the New Urbanism as proposed to the Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency by Andres Duany. Federal and State regulations require that bike traffic be considered and worked into new roadways and major renovation of existing roads. There are more than four hundred miles of streets in Syracuse and yet we do not have one mile of bike lanes. The Lewis Administration will begin the process by establishing a goal of ten miles of bike lanes per year for four years. The Comprehensive Bike Plan that is being developed this year by the Syracuse Metropolitan Transportation Council would be the base for the project. The cost would include paint and signage. TNT and City volunteers would recommend routes; the Transportation Division, within DPW, would provide the signage. Racks for bike parking could be provided by a combination of CENTRO, the Downtown Committee and local businesses. They could be installed, maintained and owned by CENTRO.

  • Programming for Parks

    Park and recreational programming is essential to providing secure and comfortable spaces. Staff assigned on a neighborhood basis will create identities for their facilities. Programs including golf, swimming, ice-skating, and music can formally and informally establish links between neighborhood residents and build the bonds that hold communities together.

  • Neighborhood Improvement Clubs

    Neighborhoods cannot be maintained entirely by public action. The pride that neighborhood residents feel for their property and the surrounding environs makes it possible to maintain the quality of a community. However, many of our neighborhoods do not have signs of pride. In some cases, City government must provide some incentives. One possibility is the development of neighborhood improvement clubs in areas such as carpentry, home maintenance, and tool use.

  • Neighborhood organizations

    Support for neighborhood park associations and athletic leagues has been the backbone of many neighborhoods. The Lewis Administration will contribute to that support by working with park associations and neighborhood athletic leagues. City employees will be encouraged to volunteer for such activities. The uniformed officers of the City, when they are based in specific neighborhoods, will be assigned to participate in supporting voluntary neighborhood organizations.

3. The promotion of public safety.

  • Community policing (refer to section on Public Safety)
  • Depending on neighborhood needs, drug policy shifts to a medical model
  • Community court, including drug treatment programs
  • Neighborhood stability through building community identity:
    • Reduce residential mobility by changing policy for assisted housing; provide incentives for stability;
    • Create neighborhood "ombudsman" positions to build community: welcoming wagon, neighborhood block parties, neighborhood "spirit" activities

4. Support for good educational options within neighborhoods.

  • Work with City School District to return to neighborhood school attendance policy
    • Continue the work of the internal planning committee to examine implications of re-establishing neighborhood attendance policies;
    • Modify the District’s $400 million capital plan to meet neighborhood school objectives;
    • Introduce a financing vehicle for managing the capital plan, like Buffalo’s Joint School Construction Foundation, to meet the time requirements of the neighborhood school plan
  • Tailor educational schedules to needs of young families by:
    • Creating extended day and extended year programming and coordinating extra-educational resources
    • Introducing services such as health care and infirmary services within the extended day program of the neighborhood school
  • Strengthen neighborhood identity and educational programming by creating a child-centered community social environment in each neighborhood. Social environments determine behavior. People change their behavior based on the social environment they are in. Yelling is normal at the ballpark but not in a courtroom. We can create social environments that support children in our neighborhoods. This can be accomplished directly by orienting all public personnel who are working in a neighborhood to the goal of building a "child-friendly" community. Everyone has a role, from police officials to sanitation workers. Over time, all the residents of a neighborhood can accept their responsibility for creating the community in which, as Senator Clinton says, "all children are loved and cared for—first by the families into which they are born, and then by all of us who are linked to them and to one another."

Specific Actions

Short Term—Within Six Months of Taking Office

Community Bank

To increase capital available for investment in city neighborhoods, the Lewis administration will examine the feasibility of developing and implementing a "community bank." The purpose of the bank would be to serve as the lender of last resort for a variety of property owner initiatives as well as existing and new business development loans. This bank would be the creation of a consortium of local commercial and savings banks, a variety of city agencies, and selected not-for-profit agencies that have a current role in maintaining and developing housing stock within the City’s neighborhoods. The bank would be capitalized in part by the City and by the commercial banks with funds that would have been designated for so-called "red-lined" districts. By participating in the community bank project financing, commercial banks would be compliant with reversing "red-line" financing practices.

An inventory of housing stock in the City will be created as part of the Neighborhood Improvement Plan development described below. That inventory will be used by the bank's Advisory Board of Directors as the tool by which financing priorities would be established.

Similarly, the Community Bank will serve as a financier of local neighborhood business development. Financing guidelines will be developed which would be targeted to small business development and maintenance. An effort will be made incorporate the City’s existing programs administered by the Syracuse Economic Development Corporation to support neighborhood commercial enterprises.

Engage Citizen Participation

To promote the pride, commitment, and participation by neighborhood residents, the Lewis Administration will seek the establishment of a city-sponsored commission to examine the options for increasing citizen participation in the City’s governance. There are 26 identifiable neighborhoods in the City. These neighborhoods do not correspond to any existing governing and/or administrative districts that are used now to manage the City’s affairs. However, they are combined into eight planning units which serve as the geographic base for the TNT program. The TNT Sectors are established by Common Council Ordinance and receive a nominal budget appropriation from the City General Fund. As another step to strengthen neighborhoods, the Lewis Administration will seek to realign the natural neighborhoods of the City with the Common Council district boundaries. As City Auditor, I have attended many TNT sector meetings. As Mayor, I would continue to rely on that channel of communication, and I will encourage Common Councilors to join me.

Support for Existing Drug Court and for Proposed Community Court

The Lewis administration will support the development of community courts for the processing of quality-of-life offenses. We will build on the Drug Court initiative in City Court and collaborate with Community Court by providing community service opportunities. The DPW, Parks and Recreation, and Community Development can generate service projects.

Decentralized Services

The Lewis Administration will work with the County and with City departments to decentralize and consolidate services as much as possible. The range of services will be from social and human services to others such as building inspections. The goal is to make the City and County more responsive to the residents of the City by bringing all services closer to the people. As described in the section on Metropolitan Cooperation, there are substantial financial benefits to both the City and the County from this initiative. More effective services can be delivered at lower cost.

Historic Preservation

  • Staff the Landmark Preservation Board
  • Encourage use of Tax Credits
  • Rebuild the Professional Planning agency for city neighborhoods

Long Term—within the Four-Year Term of Office

The major objective is to attack the problems of maintaining housing stock and providing positive economic tools for neighborhood residents to utilize for their own entrepreneurial activity. On the housing side, the City will finally be able to address the problem of abandoned housing with something other than code enforcement tools. It will now have a community-wide inventory and plan with which actual problems can be addressed through the application of loans and initiative funding. The measurable result will be more housing stock returned to owner-occupied status through the Mayor’s term.

In addition, the adjustments to City and County services via decentralization and the expansion of the community court concept to drug cases should bring neighborhood residents into the network of community governance. This step will create a sense of ownership and pride at the neighborhood level.