Steve Meldahl wrote:
> While all people including landlords agree that children and adults should > not have to live in housing that contains excessive levels of lead, > cockroach dust, and radon, I do not see any solutions being offered in > this new "campaign" Will there be funding available for property owners to > correct the contaminated houses or apartments? Bringing increased funding to the problem is one of the ultimate goals, which will benefit property owners. After all, the lead paint manufacturers, who caused this environmental problem in the first place, point their fingers at property owners for failing to keep properties lead safe. While advocates for tenants may also point the fingers, we want to avoid that except in egregious cases (renting to tenants with the knowledge that hazards exist). There may be some interesting partnerships with property owners out of this campaign, partnerships that demand the lead industry account for its wrongs; i.e., by ponying up the funds to take care of it. This benefits us all. > I have done numerous lead abatements on buildings that I renovate. Since I > have my own crew, I can do a laed abatement for around $3,000 to $4,000 on > an average 3 bedroom house. A lead abatement company will charge anywhere > between $10,000 to $18,000 for the same job. For newer property owners, > this could become an excessive burden, especially for newer landlords. This is one difference that our campaign may make as well. Currently, if a child is lead poisoned, the city must respond with work orders for lead abatement, thus triggering the requirement that the work be done by a licensed lead abatement contractor (thus, the expense). If, however, we document the lead hazards BEFORE a poisoning, the property owner is not required to use a lead abatement contractor but MUST use lead safe measures. This may dramatically decrease the costs of remediation. Further, we are now sponsoring a FREE workshop for contractors, tentatively set for February 22, to train them on lead safe renovation and rehab. This is a FREE seminar, and I encourage property owners and contractors to attend, with details to follow. > Another potential problem could arise. One can not do a lead abatement > with people occupying a building. When a building has been identified with > the need for lead abatement, where are the tenants going to go? If the > owner can not afford the cost, we might start to see more vacant buildings > and all of the problems associated with them. Most of these units would > fall in the category of being affordable. Unless there is some sort of > safety net, the shelters will be filling up soon. Despite all my stringent disagreements with Mr. Meldahl, this point is critical. It is certainly not our intent to create homelessness and in all our Tenant Remedies Action (TRA) work to date we have not in one case created homelessness (we cannot be responsible, however, for a tenant's failure to pay rent or abide by a lease, which may have led to an eviction). Rather, we have pulled buildings out of iminent condemnation. There are numerous creative solutions, both legal and extra-legal, to the problem identified here, and we will be working with our local lead hazard control folks in the City to assure that the issue of displacement of tenants does not occur, except to displace them temporarily so that work can be done. Minneapolis is actually blessed with a talented and committed team of local officials who are responsible for lead hazard reduction in the City. This can be a win-win campaign for property owners and tenants. In all candor, however, the property owners who fail to see the big picture and insist that nothing be done are likely good targets for the campaign as well. I encourage anyone interested to call our hotline at (612) 521-LEAD. Gregory Luce/Project 504 (Minneapolis) St. Paul residence _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
