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Posted on 07/17/2005 3:08:30 AM PDT by Happy2BMe
Overcrowding complaints focus on Hispanics
Ask an elected official in Manassas to name some of the city's biggest challenges, and chances are residential overcrowding -- or too many people sharing too little living space -- will be near the top of the list.
It's been just over a year since the city rolled out a code enforcement strategy designed to tackle the problem.
A look at data compiled by the city's residential overcrowding program shows Hispanics are much more likely to be reported for overcrowding, and that overcrowding complaints are reported more often in some areas of the city.
City officials are careful not to characterize the problem as exclusive to any one race or demographic, but at least one member of the city's Residential Overcrowding Taskforce is concerned about the equality and fairness of the program.
City officials say the program is driven by safety concerns, and that race isn't an issue. The city's overcrowding inspectors don't pick and choose which houses to inspect; they respond to complaints called in by city residents.
"We treat every inspection the same way, and try and not even pay attention to ethnicity," said Victor Purchase, one of the city's overcrowding inspectors. "When we go out to do these inspections, we're responding to citizen complaints. I don't want anyone to say that what we're doing is driven in any way by race."
The city doesn't track racial demographics in the homes inspected for overcrowding violations, but address information and homeowner records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act provide a rough look at how many of the homes reported for overcrowding are owned by Hispanics.
The numbers
Of the 297 complaints recorded between June 2004 and June 22, 2005, address information was provided for the 257 closed cases -- "closed" meaning the inspections have been conducted and any violations assessed.
Property records indicate that about 70 percent of the homes inspected for overcrowding violations were registered to names of Hispanic origin. The inspections discovered overcrowding violations in about 48 percent of those homes.
In the rest of the homes, which are presumably owned by non-Hispanics, violations were found about 43 percent of the time.
Those numbers aren't precise -- using that methodology, a homeowner with the last name "Martinez" would be classified as being of Hispanic origin, even though he or she could be from Sweden.
However, Lindy Garnette, the executive director of Securing Emergency Resources through Volunteer Efforts Inc. and a member of the Residential Overcrowding Taskforce in Manassas, said the percentage of inspections that take place in Hispanic homes could be even higher than 70 percent.
Many of the homes reported for overcrowding are rental properties, Garnette said, which means the name of the property owner doesn't necessarily reflect the race of the tenants.
The city's data gives a rough look at how many of the units are rentals, and one can infer that a much higher percentage of the non-Hispanic property owners are landlords renting out the property.
Property records show mailing addresses for the owners of the homes inspected for overcrowding. Of the houses presumably owned by Hispanics, the owner lived elsewhere 4 percent of the time.
However, about 41 percent of the non-Hispanic owners listed an address other than the property inspected for overcrowding, which suggests they are landlords.
Methodology
The way the program is structured, inspectors follow up on complaints that are called in over a hotline or e-mailed to the city.
The inspectors then knock on the door of the house that's been reported, explain who they are and ask permission to enter.
Once inside, they inspect the building for violations of the fire code, the building code or the city's zoning ordinance. If violations are found, the property owner is told to get back into compliance. Since the program started, about 350 residents have been forced to move out of overcrowded houses, Purchase said.
Of the 297 complaints the program received in its first year, 84 were received as anonymous tips. City residents who left their names made 206 complaints. Also, the fire department referred one case to overcrowding inspectors, the police referred three, the rescue squad two and zoning officials one.
Manassas isn't the only jurisdiction to use this kind of strategy to deal with overcrowding. There are similar complaint-driven programs in Prince William, Loudon and Fairfax counties, as well as in Herndon.
Still, there are limitations to the call-and-report-your-neighbor method, Garnette said, like the possibility of people reporting their neighbors for spite.
"You could have some people who make repeated calls," Garnette said. "Either there's just one person in the neighborhood who has nothing better to do than call and report everybody, or there could be an open disagreement going on between people."
And the data shows some areas of the city generated more complaints -- and inspections -- than others.
There were 15 reported overcrowding violations between 8470 and 8559 Stonewall Road during the first year of the program, the highest number of any street in the city. Overcrowding violations were found in two of those 15 homes.
Fourteen cases of overcrowding were reported between 9805 and 9860 Buckner Road; inspectors found violations in three of them.
However, higher numbers of complaints along one street don't necessarily indicate a cantankerous neighbor speed-dialing the city's overcrowding hotline.
"In the case of Stonewall Road, it's important to remember that's one of the longest and most populated streets in the city," Purchase said.
However, Purchase said that sometimes the city gets several complaints from a resident unhappy with the neighborhood.
"When that happens, we go out and investigate them all. If there aren't any violations, we call the person who made the complaints and say 'No you're wrong, there isn't anything there.' But we do investigate them all," Purchase said.
the real estate market
Both Garnette and Purchase said residential overcrowding is tied to the dwindling availability of affordable housing.
The region's flourishing job market draws migrant workers to the area, Garnette said. Once they're here, however, the high cost of housing can prevent those workers from being able to pay the rent or a mortgage on just one or two incomes.
As a result, more than one family may have to pack into a home just to make the rent, Garnette said.
"Typically, we think of a family as husband and wife and the kids, maybe a mother- or father-in-law," Purchase said. "What we're finding is that with the housing costs, they have to bring their cousins in or their nephews to make ends meet, which is legal."
Safety versus fairness
Garnette said the link between Hispanics and residential overcrowding could be compounded by the way the inspection process is started, which brings the fairness of the program into question.
Since the program is based on complaints, residents that are more inclined to call and report one kind of neighbor than another could drive it, she said.
"It seems that there is certainly less tolerance for a house of 10 migrant construction workers than there is for an intact family that has 10 kids, even though the family may have as many or more people inhabiting the structure," Garnette said. "I think we make value judgments on which house is the better neighbor."
However, Purchase said the construction workers are no more likely to be reported than families.
"What the citizens don't realize is that sometimes the families are larger," he said. "They see five or six men all living in the same house, and say 'well that's not a family,' but when we inspect we find out that the men are cousins or nephews and it is just one family living there."
Overcrowding is chiefly a safety issue, according to city staff. The living conditions in an overcrowded home -- mattresses strewn across the floor, cramped quarters, lack of easy access in and out of the home -- create health and fire risks, Purchase said.
"The driving issue here is the safety issue," Purchase said. "When you overcrowd a house, and put four or five people in a 100 square-foot bedroom, how are they supposed to get out in the event of a fire?"
However, Garnette said that if safety is the main issue, additional methods for identifying residential overcrowding should be found, because a call-in system means that residents are likely to report neighbors they don't want living near them, not ones whose living conditions aren't safe.
"If it is truly a safety issue, and not a discriminatory thing, then I'm more concerned about the Catholic family with 10 children who can't get themselves out of a fire than I am about 10 adult construction workers who can probably take care of themselves," Garnette said. "I'm concerned about equity and fairness here.
The region's flourishing job market draws migrant workers to the area, Garnette said. Once they're here, however, the high cost of housing can prevent those workers from being able to pay the rent or a mortgage on just one or two incomes.As a result, more than one family may have to pack into a home just to make the rent, Garnette said.
Then yes, the City is tracking demographics. That's the resource for the whole premise of the article.
See the public officials. See the public officials dance. See the public officials dance to the P.C. tune. See the public officials deny the painfully obvious. See the public officials deny reality. See the public officials use the word "racism" when there is no such thing as an "Hispanic" race. See the press continue this lie. See your friendly reporter getting pretty damn tired of this sh*t...SSZ
The problem is clearly associated to illegal aliens who can't find decent work, IMHO.
Why are they saying "Hispanics" and not illegals in the article? This "PC" attitude is dangerous and developing a reaction among the lesser informed American populace that Hispanics are the problem and not illegals.
Very, very dangerous...
"The problem is clearly associated to illegal aliens who can't find decent work, IMHO."
==================
What would happen if TEN MILLION illegal aliens embedded into every city and town in the United States couldn't find decent work?
What would happen if the legal residents couldn't find decent work either?
What then?
Freedom of contract. Let the government go count their own noses.
Rece card played in the fourth sentence.
Predictable.
Ugh. Race card.
Go get coffee now.
Oh, I assure you I have MAJOR problem with illegal immigration. My wife worked on her papers for years to become illegal, her father arriving later, worked at it for 8 years.
Then along come these criminals who make a mockery of their efforts to obey and respect our laws. In the process these criminal invaders flood the labor market and drive down wages for good and decent American citizens and legal guests. It's a major slap in the face.
I just need to point out that the problem is one with illegals. We cannot identify this group as the blanket term "Hispanic", even if the illegals mostly come from Mexico. How do you tell if an Hispanic individual is illegal? Lesser minds might decide that all Latinos are a problem.
A quote from this article:
We can't permit innocents to suffer for the acts of criminals. That's my point.
Rent? Where are the landlords on this? It is their property to maintain, and they are apparently allowing his overcrowding. Fine them.
I think that you will find here on FR that virtually all "single issue" folks separate the two. I am not suggesting that your comments were directed solely at FR.
It is the "news" reports that refuse to grant us "single issue" folks the courtesy of acknowledging that ILLEGAL immigration and immigration are two different things. I've sponsored immigrants, for example. I know the difference.
Now on to comments for anyone and not specific to your post.
Another problem is the mainline (mostly Republican) political parties. So often I see pleas to tone down the rhetoric lest we alienate the Hispanic vote.
The Hispanic vote? You mean like in American citizen voters? You mean, Mr. Mainline Republican, to say that the Americans of Hispanic origin favor law breaking, ignore our sovereignty, and defer to foreign language and culture? They are not true Americans? Is that what you are saying, Mr. Mainline Republican?
I know that you are wrong, Mr. Mainline Republican. Goes for you Rats also.
ping
Because in the minds of some, (A) Illegal Alien= (B) Hispanic. They can't see though their hatred that while (A) sometimes equals (B), (B) usually doesn't equal (A).
It's just you...:-)
I'm not sure if I get more angry with the glee with which these articles titled as a problem with "hispanics" (instead of the rightfully targeted "illegals") are greeted or with the fact that the supposed "hispanic" organizations in the U.S. would have a bigger problem if the newspaper used the word "illegal alien" in the headline. I think the organizations like LULAC and La Raza prefer the use of the word "hispanic" as long as their precious illegal alien constituency isn't offended.
Bump!
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
So, can I assume that after all those years your wife and her father are now master forgers?
Sorry, Caipirabob, I just couldn't resist commenting on that obvious goof you made. :^)
A simple rejoinder, "Race does not exist" hence no program can be based on "race" and no racism can come from the non-existant.
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