This is a follow-up to last week’s post, “DeKalb’s not following its own rules for training landlords.” I’ve received feedback since posting it that the training has been hit-or-miss for several years. Also it turns out the landlord education fails are the tip of the iceberg. When new Crime Free Housing Bureau director Bob Redel…
Tag: housing
DeKalb’s not following its own rules for training landlords
DeKalb landlords, property managers, and other registered contact persons for rental properties are required to take an initial landlord education course provided by the city, with annual refresher training after that. But according to a response to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted earlier this month: [P]rior to the appointment of the current Crime…
Housing authority sends termination notice over alleged unreported income
This continues the story of Robert S. The Housing Authority of the County of DeKalb (HACD) wanted Mr. S to sign a repayment agreement, saying Mr. S had failed to report a change in income. Mr. S has not signed the agreement, so HACD has sent him a notice of termination from the Housing Choice…
Opinion: housing authority should avoid promoting from within
Housing Authority of the County of DeKalb (HACD) is losing its executive director, Shelly Perkins. This is an excellent development. It presents the HACD board with a fresh opportunity to address the unprofessional workplace culture there, by hiring an outsider and encouraging additional management departures. Having observed HACD for about nine months and collected hundreds…
Task force a potential bright spot for Annie Glidden North revitalization
It’s no secret that my main concern for the Annie Glidden North revitalization effort is the possibility that City of DeKalb and NIU are preparing to push a secret agenda to the detriment of public input and outcomes. As I exhaustively outlined for you earlier, email discussions of private planning, from the “DeKalb 2020 Prospectus”…
One More Reason DeKalb is a Fantastic Place to Live
[Photo credit: J.p. Salovesh]
New Council Gets a Good Start
City of DeKalb employees and the group Ellwood Historic Neighborhood have hatched a new plan just in time to take up a line item in the FY2014 budget: Buy up multi-family homes in the north 5th Ward, convert them to single-family and resell each property at a loss. In fact: “We have worked with a…
DARA to Council: Rethink Housing Bureau Structure, Costs at Budget Time
The DeKalb Area Rental Association (DARA) has sent city council members a letter and with general budget recommendations for FY2014. EPI, of course, refers to Executive Partners, Inc., their latest report to the city and the April workshop we talked about yesterday. Jump for more.
Rockford Working Its Way to Landlord Registration Program
It’s registration without tons of new staff or inspection ordinances of dubious constitutionality. Right now, the only thing between the city and a new landlord registry is the right software, said Paul Arena, president of the Rockford Apartment Association. The property managers want the database to link to the city’s police and code enforcement reporting…
Video Comment on DeKalb’s Passing of New Housing Inspection Rules
If you haven’t read about what transpired on Monday night, here’s the report from DeKalb County Online. And the first three minutes or so of the video below is a reminder of what single-minded pursuit of a goal can get you.