2000 Best Practice Awards
Program and Geographical Winners: Maryland
Best Practices: Safe Communities Law Enforcement
Building Trust Through Community Involvement
Annapolis.
The Safe Communities Law Enforcement program is a partnership between the
Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis and select law enforcement officers
from the Annapolis Police Department who employ community-oriented policing
concepts to gain community trust. This is a critical ingredient in effective
crime fighting. The Safe Communities team includes two liaison officers
who coordinate activities between the housing authority and police department,
and 10 officers who patrol the public housing communities, investigate criminal
activity and engage in community activities to gain trust and cooperation.
As off-duty police officers contracted by the housing authority, they work
on behalf of the housing authority. Officers respond to all resident complaints
and use those opportunities to get to know the residents. They participate
in community events: they coach youth basketball teams and lead the communitys
drum and bugle corps. In addition, they host training sessions on crime
prevention for residents and housing authority staff. Arrests of public
housing residents have declined dramatically since the program was implemented.
In 1999, arrests of residents declined by 17 percent to 475. In the first
four months of 2000, there were only 25 arrests of public housing residents,
representing less than 5 percent of arrests citywide.
Contact: P. Croslan, Phone: (410) 267-8000
Tracking Number: 143
Winning Category: Geographical
Best Practice: Baltimore Repair and Maintenance
Study
Study Helps Identify Cost-Effective Control
Treatments for Lead
Baltimore.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Lead
Hazard Control and the Kennedy Krieger Research Institute initiated the
Baltimore Repair and Maintenance Study to assess the effectiveness of three
lead hazard control treatments in high-risk urban dwellings during a five-year
period. To identify which combination of low-cost interim control treatments
were most effective, it was essential that researchers maintained contact
with participating families. Researchers visited the homes every six months
to collect dust samples for lead analysis, visually inspect the treatments,
sample blood from children in residence and administer brief surveys. They
were able to retain 90 of the initial 107 dwellings after three years. After
five years, 80 percent of the dwellings were sampled. The willingness of
project staff to develop relationships with participating families was key
to the successful retention of so many participants. Staff assisted families
with a variety of lead- and non-lead related housing concerns. Each family
was invited to an annual skating party where they could have fun and at
the same time learn about the studys progress. The number of dwellings
retained in the study should be sufficient to allow statistically valid
comparisons between intervention groups and help in making informed decisions
on how to effectively minimize lead hazards in pre-1950 inner city housing.
Contact: Mark Farfel, Phone: (410) 955-3864
Tracking Number: 2384
Winning Category: Program (Office of Lead Hazard Control)
Best Practice: Baltimore Task Force Database
Baltimore Develops Database to Combat Predatory
Lending
Baltimore.
When the HUD imposed a 90-day foreclosure moratorium on Baltimore to address
the problem of predatory lending, the Philadelphia Homeownership Center
performed detailed reviews of 265 FHA-insured loans with origination dates
since 1997. The results of these reviews were collected and reported in
the Baltimore Task Force Database, which was created to organize the reviews
and help identify trends in predatory lending and fraud in Baltimore. By
collecting the information electronically and storing it in a single database,
users will have immediate access to the data, which subsequently can be
manipulated to track the activities covered by HUDs new Fraud Protection
Plan. HUD will use the database to identify FHA homeowners in Baltimore
that have been victimized by fraud or predatory lending practices and to
target lenders, brokers, appraisers or loan officers that have engaged in
illegal lending practices. Copies of the Baltimore Task Force Database were
provided to the Atlanta, Denver, and Santa Ana homeownership centers, and
the system may be easily implemented in other cities across the United States.
Contact: Michele Buruschkin-Szupper, Phone:
(215) 656-0503 Ext. 3392
Tracking Number: 2053
Winning Category: Program (Housing - Multifamily)
Best Practice: Empower Baltimore Management
Corporation
Empower Baltimore Improves Residents
Quality of Life
Baltimore.
In 1994, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designated
six census tracts within Baltimore as empowerment zone communities. Although
home to approximately 72,000 residents and 1,600 businesses, according to
1990 census information, 40 percent of empowerment zone residents were living
in poverty. The City of Baltimore was charged with developing a model for
the nation to re-energize residents and businesses to improve the quality
of life in its most distressed neighborhoods. Empower Baltimore Management
Corporation is Baltimores vehicle for change. Its mission is to foster
sustained economic opportunities within the empowerment zone by stimulating
business development, facilitating job readiness and training, reducing
crime, increasing public safety, providing opportunities for homeownership
and entrepreneurship, encouraging community and business partnerships, and,
ultimately, transforming neighborhoods into quality locations for living
and working. The corporations four-pronged approach includes business
development, including a business empowerment center, financing resources
and entrepreneurial training; workforce development, including career centers,
customized employment services and work transportation programs; quality
of life, including homebuyer assistance, public safety programs, and afterschool
programs; and community capacity building, including community leadership
training and community partnership building. As one of the first six cities
to receive empowerment zone funding, Baltimore has made significant progress
in improving the quality of life in six of its most economically-distressed
communities.
Contact: Diane Bell, Phone: (410) 783-4400
Tracking Number: 1964
Winning Category: Geographical and Program (Community Planning and Development)
Best Practice: Lead Abatement Action Project
Lead Abatement Action Project Reduces Lead
Hazards in Baltimore
Baltimore.
The Lead Abatement Action Project is designed to prevent lead poisoning
in and around Baltimore through cost-effective lead hazard reduction projects.
Using HUD funding, the Baltimore City Health Department, the Maryland Department
of Housing and Community Development and the Coalition to End Childhood
Lead Poisoning have helped reduce lead hazards in nearly 1,200 privately
owned housing units in Baltimore. Priority areas for spending the hazard
control dollars are communities at high risk for lead poisoning cases, including
HUD-designated Empowerment Zone areas. Participants include homeowners,
owners of low-income rental housing, and developers. Owners apply for grants
to cover all or part of the hazard reduction costs and approval is often
contingent upon the owner agreeing to upgrade the property to meet code,
address plumbing problems, or repair structural problems. The scope generally
includes window replacement, stabilization of chipping or flaking paint,
enclosure of leaded bath or kitchen walls, enclosure of floors and stairs
to provide washable surfaces, adjustment of doors to reduce abrading surfaces,
and specialized final cleans. The Lead Abatement Action Project educates
individual owners and occupants during the course of lead work, and promotes
compliance with local, state, and federal regulations concerning lead. The
Lead Abatement Action Project has efficiently distributed grants to hundreds
of home and building owners, fostered the remediation of serious lead hazards
at relatively low costs, and succeeded at leveraging private resources to
improve Baltimores housing stock.
Contact: Amy Spanier, Phone: (410) 396-4530
Tracking Number: 960
Winning Category: Program (Office of Lead Hazard Control)
Best Practice: HotSpot Homeownership Initiative
("Four at Four")
Initiative Lends Money for Home Buying
to Stabilize Neighborhoods
Crownsville.
To complement its Smart Growth initiative, the State of Maryland established
the HotSpot Homeownership Initiative to stabilize neighborhoods by emphasizing
homeownership. Fifteen HotSpot communities areas statistically characterized
by high crime were invited to share in $4 million earmarked for the
development of strategies promoting homeownership. Applicant communities,
eligible for up to $500,000, were evaluated on the communitys overall
revitalization strategy, including public/private partnerships, financial
leveraging, readiness to proceed, commitment of other funding and promotion
of economic diversity. Partners provided incentives for home purchases,
such as closing cost and down payment assistance, leveraged and forgivable
loans, and funds for crime-control measures. Homebuyer education is mandatory
for all loans under this initiative and home inspections are required on
all existing homes. The initiative began Feb. 9, 1999, and to date, 25 loans
totaling $2.2 million have been closed.
Contact: William Manahan, Phone: (410) 514-7535
Tracking Number: 2412
Winning Category: Program (Housing - Single Family)
Best Practice: Maryland Multi-Family Lead Safe
Housing
Maryland Uses High-Volume Approach to Lead
Abatement
Crownsville.
To tackle the problem of lead hazards in low-income, multifamily housing
in Maryland, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development
collaborated with other state agencies and the Coalition to End Childhood
Lead Poisoning to conduct a series of lead abatement and lead-safe housing
outreach projects. Marylands lead-safe housing initiative is unique
because it is the only high-volume, multifamily lead abatement project in
the country using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
funds. By working with large housing complexes, Maryland is maximizing the
number of units that can be abated at one time and minimizing expenses associated
with temporarily relocating tenants during abatement. The scope of work
includes risk assessment; removal and replacement of windows and doors;
paint stabilization; blood level tests; community education; and data collection
and monitoring. As a result of this initiative, more than 1,300 rental housing
units in 25 multifamily buildings are lead-safe or lead-free.
Contact: Raymond Skinner, Phone: (410) 514-7001
Tracking Number: 744
Winning Category: Program (Office of Lead Hazard Control)
Best Practice: Baltimore Coalition to End Predatory
Lending
Coalition Helps Save Victims Homes
Baltimore. The South East Community
Organization in Baltimore convened the Baltimore Coalition to End Predatory
Lending in order to curb predatory real estate practices in the city. With
representatives from community and nonprofit organizations, city agencies,
and HUD, the coalition simultaneously works to help victims of predatory
lending find alternative housing and assists the victims lawyers in
getting sub-prime lenders to establish appropriate mortgages in line with
the real value of each property. The Coalition has helped several victims
save their homes, refinance artificially inflated mortgages or find other
housing. By raising the visibility of the issue of predatory lending, the
Coalition garnered enough attention that it contributed to the creation
of a national Task Force on Predatory Lendingwhich is spurring state
and federal legislation to fight predatory lending.
Contact: Ken Strong, Phone: (410) 327-1626
Tracking Number: 1548
Winning Category: Program (Community Builder)
Best Practice: 1000 in 2000
Housing Authority Seeks to Improve Residents
Computer Skills
Annapolis.
The Housing Authority of the city of Annapolis and its technology firm partner,
Usinternetworking (USi), tripled the housing authoritys resident computer
training program goal to 1,000 residents who improve their computer skills
by the end of 2000. The housing authority developed the "1000 in 2000"
initiative after a resident survey revealed that 80 percent wanted greater
access to computers and the Internet. USi provided computers, software and
Internet access for two new community computer centers, expanding the authoritys
computer resources from 12 to 32 workstations. Annapolis provided computer
teachers, security, and workstations in neighborhood community centers,
allowing for two daily after-school training sessions at each location,
as well as an adult session twice a week. USi also sponsors a home personal
computer award program, providing a personal computer and Internet access
each month to five students who show the greatest progress and promiseproviding
a powerful incentive for resident participation. The computer centers have
been used to capacity every day, serving 200-300 youth per week. As of April
2000, more than 350 residents received certificates in computer skills.
Contact: P. Croslan, Phone: (410) 267-8000
Tracking Number: 169
Winning Category: Program (Public and Indian Housing)
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