“One of our priorities in 2024 is to ensure that residents’ property values are maintained and doesn’t go the opposite direction,’’ said Councilman Tim Meyers.
“Sometimes everybody needs a little bit of help – everybody.”
Each year anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 building or zoning code violations are issued by the city’s zoning inspection team, said Eva Adams, development specialist.
Although most are corrected after the first notice, a handful of residents don’t correct the violations due to health, finances, or other reasons.
Those who can’t correct the problems – often elderly, low-income, or ill/disabled – are the individuals the program is targeting, Adams said.
“The last thing we want to do is have something go to court,’’ Meyers said. “It can be a gut wrencher – you don’t know what’s going on in people’s lives.”
Initially, $60,000 from the Transformative Economic Development fund has been set aside for the program to help with making exterior home repairs to owner-occupied, single-family homes.
Eligible repairs include roofs, soffits, gutters, siding, trim, doors, windows, painting, fencing concrete steps/walkways or similar work.
The city would partner with a non-profit organization not yet identified, to administer project construction. The non-profit would work with city staff to establish work to be done, collect bids, coordinate work and pay contractors.
“Long-term efforts to stabilize and improve neighborhoods should provide for stable municipal property tax revenues in the future,’’ Adams said.
Grants to pay for repairs would come from a restricted fund for the program at the Fairfield Community Foundation. That would allow for private donations specifically for the home improvement program.
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