发展商不急， 市长着急请看Mayor calls for crackdown

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据EXAMINER 报道Mayor calls for crackdown
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by PATRYCIA CHALUPCZYNSKA
- w* M( H- |. \5 s( E& h- e5 wExaminer Staff
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2 y) P' q6 ^  F9 W9 q4 y* qMayor Stephen Mandel wants to crack down on derelict housing with a no-tolerance policy.
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Abandoned homes left half-constructed or empty throughout the city are “unsightly” and “unacceptable,” says Mandel.
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  I& a9 _1 _) }“I’d like to see us put some kind of timeframe on building permits. If we can’t, we’ll go to the province to give us the right to do it,” says Mandel, adding the city would enforce the policy or bylaw.

9 W! R' }$ s* ^6 vA city committee last week asked city administration to come back with a report in October with suggestions on how to prevent houses from turning into derelict properties.

“We want an action plan that we can do that’s going to stop this. I don’t want anything short of that,” says Mandel.

Currently there is no legislation that restricts the length of time for construction.

' @- F  w: N7 B, \0 fMandel says derelict homes are dragging neighbourhoods down and turn prospective residents off from buying in those communities.
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“Any time you have a neighbourhood that has too many derelict houses it has a tremendous impact,”says Mandell.

The problem is citywide, says Ward 1 councillor Karen Leibovici.

“It’s not that we’ve got thousands, or even hundreds of these houses, but we have enough that it’s a problem within communities and we need to deal with that,” she says.

“We’ve been studying the situation for a number of years now. It’s time we make a decision.”

Leibovici has heard concerns from residents in her ward about houses left to sit unfinished, which pose a possible safety risk to kids that play in or around the property.
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8 i4 L4 d' @! `4 k! ^“Sometimes someone buys a plot of land and takes five, six, seven years to build. In the meantime, you’ve got conditions that are unsafe,” she says.
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One particular house in her ward has sat empty for more than 20 years, she says.
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# X( y7 E% G) U: P& B' J“That’s too long to build any house,” says Leibovici.

$ R7 p/ P2 l; I& z' Z( n“A lot of these jobs are being done by individuals who are taking their time. At this point we have no clout or teeth in any legislation that says you have to finish the house because it’s unsafe or unsightly. Unless we can show it’s derelict, it’s difficult for us to go in and get it cleaned up.”
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Even though the city can’t yet demand a property be finished in a certain amount of time, it does have more teeth when it comes to having it torn down.

  y( e! W1 N- [The city’s office of housing, which inspects homes deemed unfit for habitation by Capital Health and decides if they’re derelict, has expanded its scope.
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The department is now responsible for the entire city, instead of a small area, which had boundaries of 124 Street to the west, 82 Street to the east, the Yellowhead to the north and the North Saskatchewan river to the south.

Houses left unfinished that pose a safety risk weren’t under the department’s jurisdiction, but as of July 1, it can now deem them derelict, and order the property owner to fix the house or demolish it.

“Over the last six weeks, we’ve been inundated with these type of houses, and all of a sudden our files have doubled,” says Hal Wright, senior safety codes officer with the department.

“We have seen houses that are finished, or just about finished, and then never occupied. Well, over the years without heat, with vandalism, they deteriorate rather quickly.”

  [" O; f; ?( iWright says abandoned and vacant homes are a big potential fire risk.
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Last year there were 80 derelict homes in the small area the department covered. So far this year, there are 146 homes being investigated in the entire city, and that number is growing, says Wright.
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' k* J) O  j5 f* q# F“We’re quite progressive dealing with owners of these properties. We don’t sit back and wait for things to happen, as far as people getting at risk and fires starting,” he says.

/ }! V: T! F% Q2 e! t1 M" q% A“We notify the owner that we’re aware of the building and that it has to be fixed up in a certain amount of time, or it will be demolished.”
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Wright says the city is doing a good job dealing with derelict housing.
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9 K! ^3 w! l. ]+ C# s5 F' D: b“We have really good success and turnaround on these files. Last year alone we were involved in 50 demolitions,” he says.
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0 Y( b% M+ |0 f) X* ~- k  V) bFifty-five per cent of houses demolished have been replaced by new developments.
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& r! _8 U! {1 r! O0 j$ D; L2 W' z4 ]Wright says it would “be a better scenario” if the city could put a time limit on construction to prevent derelict homes.
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. b* t: e! P6 ~2 {- Z# p$ Z" I“Something has to be done,” he says.
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In May, city council asked administration to come up with possible incentives for homeowners to clean up their properties, but none were brought forward