City of Rockford Community Relations Commission Met April 8.
Here is the minutes provided by the commission:
I. CALL TO ORDER
| Attendee Name | Organization | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Todd Burton | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Eric Brown | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Jurea Crudup | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Victoria De La Rosa | City of Rockford | Absent | ||
| Erin Hannigan | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Nikki Lynch | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| William Martin | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Ricardo Montoya Picazo | City of Rockford | Present | ||
| Jay Ware | City of Rockford | Late | ||
| Reginald Alexander | City of Rockford | Absent |
III. ACCEPTANCE OF THE JOURNAL
1. Journal of Proceedings for the Community Relations Commission Meeting held on March 11, 2021.
Commissioner Martin made a MOTION to APPROVE the Journal of Proceedings. Commissioner Burton SECONDED the MOTION. CARRIED 8-0
IV. INFORMATION ONLLY
1. Local Strategies for Responding to the COVID-19 Housing Crisis.
Commissioner Burton stated there will be a panel discussion this evening on local strategies for responding to the COVID 19 housing crisis. Judge Stephen Balogh from the 17th Judicial Circuit, Anqunette Parham, Director of Human Services, Karl Fauerbach, Director of the Rockford Area Apartment Association, and Jesse Hodierne from Prairie Street Legal Services all spoke.
Judge Stephen Balogh is the presiding Judge in evictions court for Winnebago and Boone County. Judge Balogh spoke on the history and procedure of Eviction Law, the impact of COVID and the resulting moratoria on evictions, and gave anecdotal evidence of the state of eviction courts.
Anqunette Parham, Director of Human Services, spoke on the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and the City’s participation in the program. Director Parham stated the program is available for both landlords and tenants and offered advice on how to seek the funds.
Karl Fauerbach, Director of the Rockford Apartment Association, described the Rockford Apartment Association and its members. He gave his point of view on the eviction moratorium and offered advice for solutions going forward.
Jesse Hodierne is the managing director for the Rockford office of Prairie State Legal Services. He stated that Prairie State is a non-profit law firm that for 45 years has provided free civil legal services to eligible clients. He described the services that PSLF provides and offered his opinion of the moratorium.
Director Parham stated that a landlord cannot proceed without the participation of the tenant at the directive of the Treasury Department. If the landlord submits all the information and at the very least has the tenants email address, they have proof they have tried to start the process, and they can go back into the system to see if the tenant has added their information or is not participating in the process.
Mr. Fauerbach stated that what if the funds are there and the tenant refuses to apply to get fund, landlords should have the option to evict. Judge Balogh described the process in his courtroom for a non-responsive tenant.
Judge Balogh stated that if he tells a tenant that he is going to give them 30 days to cooperate or vacate the property, he will set a status for 30 days. If they have not trashed the apartment and they leave in 30 days, he will dismiss the case and he will seal the record. Sealing their record is a big deal, they will not have an eviction following them around.
Mr. Fauerbach does not believe awareness is the case, that people do not know there is assistance out there. He stated he believes they have to know about Human Services, the Community Action Group, at least they may not know about the new funds through Winnebago County. He states the largest problem for renters is they do not have enough income. They get into a situation where their car breaks down, or they have medical expense, and there goes 30% of their income, or half of their income and then they don't pay their rent. He stated he will not invest in older areas anymore because of crime, and lead laws. Some of the older buildings, possibly built before 1978 has lead paint in it, which is a huge expense to take care of, and there is so much deferred maintenance on some of those places.
Mr. Fauerbach stated that a landlord needs the ability to look at certain information before they rent to someone. He wants to know if that person has been evicted before and why? He needs to be able to make a judgment on whether he wants to rent to somebody. If you seal an eviction, that takes away some of the information that he is able to look at, but understand that certain evictions should be sealed for various reasons. He believes that if a person has been taking to court for not paying rent, that another landlord should be able to see that information down the road.
Pastor Martin asked if there was a way that the City of Rockford, the Apartment Association, a non-profit and Rock Valley College can actually come together to have a financial literacy course to assist individuals that desire the help? Director Parham stated there is a current initiative going on the community headed by One Body Collaborative, which is the Bridges out of Poverty program. She knows they are looking to expand that in the community. The do offer specific classes and that is exactly what they cover. They talk about financial literacy, it is real poverty mitigation working and kind of helping folks dig into those issues and causes and then help position them for success. There are a number of organizations working together to build those classes up.
Mr. Hodierne stated the non-profit Home Start is a HUD approved housing counseling agency in Rockford. They have done a lot of help with home owners in the foreclosure process to help them get modifications, they are involved in the mediation program for foreclosure. They are going to be one of the local, physical locations that people can apply for the new rental assistance that is coming through IDHA (Illinois Development Housing Authority).
Director Parham stated that in the absence of a signed lease, evidence of the amount of a rental payment may include a bank statements, check stubs, or other documentation that reasonably establishes a pattern of paying rent, a written attestation by a landlord who can be verified as a legitimate owner or management agent of that particular unit.
Judge Balogh stated he doesn't believe the majority of the landlords are bad landlords or that the majority of tenants are bad tenants. He stated prior to the pandemic they had two evictions days per week, one was for public housing and one was for everybody else. He stated he would have between 80 and 100 cases in the morning every week. Right now he is still doing 30-40 eviction a week. He thinks when the moratorium is lifted it will be bad, but not as bad as the worst naysayers are saying.
Mr. Fauerbach stated that the state of Illinois needs to do is modify the eviction moratorium, to say you can file for eviction on somebody who refuses to get help. There is money available and will be available for some time now. Along with that, the sheriff needs to be able to serve an eviction.
Mr.Hodierne stated that it is bad and there is a systemic problem behind that, but he thinks it is going to be worse when the moratorium is lifted. He thinks the rental assistance will help a lot of people get back on their feet. He has drawn on a couple of the comparisons with the foreclosure crisis, and he thinks loan modifications, forbearance programs, things that kind of delay the shock to the system sometimes, help a lot. Hopefully over the last twelve months assistance that has come through IDHA, through the County and the City, and the second round of IDHA through the upcoming months, that will help ease some of the shock.
Judge Balogh stated that IDHA is the Illinois Development Housing Authority, they are a private association. Their website is IDHA.org. They do a lot of down payment assistance for first time homebuyers, they have assistance for people with student loans who are buying homes.
Director Parham stated there was more money coming. She does anticipate that it is going to be bad. Evictions has always been a very significant issue in this community, especially with the clients that they serve in the Human Services Department.
V. COMMISSIONERS REPORT
Commissioner Martin stated one of the challenges for the COVID registration was it was only in English, and the ward that he serves is both English and Spanish speaking. They are having registration at Providence Baptist Church on April 16th. Every Friday, the will have it at a different location. April 2nd it is in the shopping center near the Dollar Tree, April 9th it will be at Washington Park, April 16th it is at Providence Baptist Church, April 23rd it is at Beyer Early Childhood Center on 15th Street, and on the 30th it is at Orton Keys. Each one of those events are from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. for registration.
Commission Ware stated he received an email with the Mayor's message, and he was trying to share that, but it wasn't on his facebook page. The Mayor had a lot of really good stuff in there talking about opportunities with jobs and such.
Commissioner Burton stated he had one item related to commemorations and various history months. He had asked Nick to relay to the Mayor an opportunity for the City to become a commemorative partner with the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War coming up. The Mayor came back with yes, the City would like to do it, but if they do, they would like the CRC to play a role in those commemorative events. Commissioner Burton stated if they were going to do it for one of these events they should be doing it for all. He want the commission to think about it for the next month for what role the CRC ought to have for events like this.
Director Meyer stated a common thing is we have a lot of information is flying around in the City right now with the stimulus money and a lot of other programs, and one of the big things that Commissioners can do is follow the City's pages as close as possible and when you see something come out like and share the information.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was closed at 7:00 PM
http://rockfordcityil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=12&ID=1980&Inline=True
Alerts Sign-up