[StBernard] St. Bernard rental permitting program getting HUD scrutiny

[Westley Annis]

St. Bernard rental permitting program getting HUD scrutiny
By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
January 11, 2010, 7:12PM
After a yearlong federal court drama involving St. Bernard Parish's
opposition to mixed-income apartments, officials with the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development are now investigating several fair-housing
complaints involving the parish's post-Hurricane Katrina rental permitting
program.

The permit process has been in place in St. Bernard since late 2006, when
the Parish Council adopted a plan members said would stabilize property
values and prevent an influx of new rental properties in long-established,
single-family neighborhoods. The ordinance quickly came under fire from a
local fair-housing advocacy group, which argued that the law had a
discriminatory clause that required Parish Council approval for any leases
to tenants who were not blood relatives.

After the parish was sued in federal court, the council dropped the
blood-relative clause but continued to require landlords to obtain permits
to rent out homes in single-family neighborhoods. Administering the permit
program has been a contentious and often confusing process over the past
year, revealing shortcomings in the law.

In several cases, homeowners have taken out rental permits with the intent
of blocking other rentals near them, taking advantage of a provision in the
law that prevents more than two rental properties within 500 feet. The
parish has not enforced language requiring permit applicants to prove they
are actually leasing the property.

Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action has filed formal complaints with HUD
on behalf of several St. Bernard landlords who complained of subjective
decision-making and delays in granting permits by the Parish Council and
parish's Planning Commission. 




"We do have concerns that there was pattern and practice of administering
the process in a way that functionally misuses it," said Morgan Williams, a
lawyer for the Fair Housing Action Center, which sued St. Bernard over the
blood-relative ordinance and again last year for officials' attempts to
block four mixed-income apartment developments in Chalmette. "We believe the
issues with this (rental) process are sort of the latest in a long string of
attempts to block African-American renters from moving into the parish."

A HUD spokeswoman could not confirm whether the agency was conducting an
investigation in St. Bernard, but the agency is required to follow up on any
formal complaints that are filed.

Parish President Craig Taffaro and several Parish Council members said they
have had discussions with HUD officials regarding the complaints. Parish
officials have denied any discriminatory intent with the ordinance and say
they are working with HUD to possibly modify the law.

"They're predominantly interested to know that our ordinance is not
restricting housing to people," Taffaro said. "We're looking at the language
in the ordinance and whether that language can accomplish the same goal if
it's changed."

Several council members said they want significant revisions to the law, if
not a complete overhaul, to avoid a dispute with HUD. The federal housing
agency also oversees $91 million in federal Community Development Block
Grant money the parish is hoping to use for a new hospital and other Katrina
recovery projects.

The council recently handed over responsibility for rental permits to the
Planning Commission, with several members citing inconsistencies in the way
the program was administered.

Councilman Wayne Landry said he fears that the money could be in jeopardy if
the parish does not rescind the controversial rental ordinance. He also
believes that the real estate market in St. Bernard has stabilized to the
point where investors are no longer buying up large tracts of houses and
creating rentals.




"I am like everybody else in this parish, who lives in a neighborhood and
doesn't want transient people in their neighborhood and want stability in
the neighborhood. I agree with that," Landry said. "But I want to make sure
we're following the law in a fair and just manner, and not inconsistently.

"No one wants to be the champion of removing that ordinance, but at the end
of the day it may be something necessary for the larger good, which is not
putting our recovery dollars at risk."

There are plans in the works to rewrite the ordinance in a way that focuses
on landlord accountability instead of the density of rentals in any one
neighborhood. Councilman Ray Lauga has been drafting an ordinance that would
set a three-strike rule for landlords whose properties have a history of
disturbances or code violations.

"What we're trying to do is lay out some guidelines, lay out some rules so
that everybody is on the same level playing field from a landlord
standpoint, so you know what the rules are and you can deal with it," Lauga
said.