HOUSING SUMMIT SPONSORED BY: United Way of St. Joseph County City of South Bend Notre Dame Clinical Law Center

Why a Housing Summit? Safe, affordable housing is at the core of self-sufficiency. It is also a fundamental right as established by multiple international norms and treaties including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic , Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Multiple studies have shown that the lack of safe, sustainable housing has numerous consequence for families and their communities, While we will talk about these in more detail throughout the day, just to highlight a few: people who lack safe and sustainable housing are sicker children who do not have safe and sustainable housing do not perform as well in school neighborhoods that are unstable are less attractive to investment and do not prosper

Roadmap for Today OVERVIEW OF THE ISSUES Safety Affordability Sustainability Breakout: resources and challenges Reports from the Groups Be sure to mention Senator Young will be arriving at approximately 11:30 and we will break for his remarks on his efforts Nationally (please: this is not a discussion of the government shutdown, Senator Young is her to talk about his efforts in the housing arena and we would like to respect his time and let him talk about that). Breakout: short, middle and long term goals Report Back

CHALLENGES AFFORDABILITY

Rent Burden Families living in poverty: 11-17% (depending on your source) ALICE families plus those living in poverty: 43% South Bend 54% Mishawaka 53% Median rent : 600-750 (depending on the source) Rent burdened: 29.8% (Evictionlab.org) 44% renters paying more than 35% of income (City of South Bend ) EXPLAIN ALICE: ASSET Limited Income constrained Employed

Best Places Rental Analysis Studio 550 1 bedroom 760 2 bedroom 1030 3 bedroom 1380 4 bedroom 1520

ALICE SURVIVAL BUDGET

The Reality of the Numbers A Family of 4 with 2 parents making minimum wage: Yearly income: 29,000 Monthly gross: $2,400 Net assuming only taxes: $1989 Median Rent: $745 Rent Burden: 37% Add in other expenses: Food: $611 Health care:$ 587 Transportation: $702 Misc. $375 End of the month: -$481.00

The Reality of the Numbers A Family of 4 making median wage: Yearly income: 49, 255 Monthly gross: $4104. Net assuming only taxes: $3406 Median Rent: $950 (2 bedrooms) Rent Burden: 28% Add in other expenses: Food: $611 Health care:$ 587 Transportation: $702 Misc. $375 End of the month: $181.00

The Myth of Public Housing No new units constructed in over 20 years Long waiting lists You cannot live in public housing if your credit is bad You cannot live in public housing if you have had a drug conviction The waiting list for Section 8 vouchers is years long; last took applications for 3 days in 2017 No availability The Myth of Public Housing Mention that vouchers in doubt if shutdown continues to Feb .

Most People are not getting assistance:

Challenges: SAFETY

Aging Housing Stock 41.6% occupied property built before 1960 90% 20 years old or more 17% built before 1940

Lead Paint In South Bend: 82.1 % built before 1979 Lead paint banned 1978 High incidents in certain areas Serious health risk to children

And the ceiling came falling in

Heating/Electricity/Water Landlord removes and sells furnaces before renting Landlord shuts off water to force tenant to move Landlord never initiates water service Electricity does not work in all parts of the home This is a frozen bottle of liquid detergent on the counter of my client’s home

MOLD

32-31-8-5 Duties of landlord at commencement of and during occupancy A landlord shall do the following: (1) Deliver the rental premises to a tenant in compliance with the rental agreement, and in a safe, clean, and habitable condition. (2) Comply with all health and housing codes applicable to the rental premises.

Challenges: SUSTAINABILITY

South Bend experienced 1,930 eviction filings in 2016 Number of evictions per day: 3.12 Eviction Filing Rate: 11.34%* * An eviction filing rate is the number of eviction filings per 100 renter-occupied households

Mishawaka experienced 779 eviction filings in 2016 Number of evictions per day: 1.03 Eviction Filing Rate: 7.34%* * An eviction filing rate is the number of eviction filings per 100 renter-occupied households

Comparison of eviction filing rates in 2016 Comparison of eviction filing rates over time 1 South Bend South Bend 2 Mishawaka Mishawaka 3 United States United States

Eviction Statistics What the numbers Don’t Contain: Informal evictions and lockouts Foreclosure evictions Tax sale evictions

Eviction is a cause of poverty, not a symptom Homelessness Forced to accept substandard housing Increased psychological trauma Poor health outcomes Risk factor for suicide Risk factor for children’s educational outcomes Increases stress Risk factor for medical problems

Current efforts Local: State HB 1372: require rental safety inspection South Bend: Rental Safety Verification Program State HB 1372: require rental safety inspection SB 422: allows termination of lease for conditions and return of money SB 524: conditions and notice changes Federal Senator Young Task Force on Affordable Housing