One of the greatest sources of satisfaction in my work is helping inspectors achieve observable results, e.g. the roof that gets fixed, the yard that gets cleaned up, finding the right owner to charge. Consequently, when I have difficulty reaching a goal, I get very frustrated. I can think of few situations that are more difficult to deal with than when I am dealing with an occupant or owner who appears to be suffering from a mental illness. All of the normal carrot and stick approaches don’t work, i.e. fines, court orders, contempt of court. Unfortunately it’s difficult to tell which came first, the illness or the lack of maintenance. I recognize that many hoarders suffer from OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) and others are dealing with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Rational conversations are not often possible. Many of these individuals also lack family support, sometimes because their behavior has driven away the very people who could help them. While neighbors may be sympathetic (unless the person’s behavior has antagonized them as well), there comes a point where the neighbors just want the problem fixed. Many are willing to help the offender but usually the offender doesn’t want anyone to help them or doesn’t even recognize the problem. (Again, this may be due to the illness when paranoia is part of it). I’ve written in the past about my success with hoarders, bringing them into court and working closely on a schedule to bring the property into compliance. Most hoarders I’ve dealt with though haven’t lost touch with reality. It’s people who are somewhat delusional that are such a challenge. Sometimes the police can help if the person is a danger to his or herself or others but that’s the standard for involuntary commitment in my state and most mentally ill people don’t qualify. An alternative is a guardianship where a petition is filed with the court asking it to appoint someone to make the day to day decisions for the ill person because he or she is not competent to help his or herself. However, there has to be someone willing to file the lawsuit and take on the responsibility for the person’s care. I don’t think we can ignore problem properties by not issuing tickets for violations just because the offender is mentally ill. A sympathetic inspector who can gain the trust of the offender can get results by closely supervising the person’s progress. I’ve sometimes seen a person’s mental state improve as the residence looks better. If anyone out there has a magic solution, I’d love you to share it with my readers.
I’ve just been made aware of a terrific code enforcement conference for municipal attorneys in New Orleans on Oct. 9 and 10. It’s the Code Enforcement Program held in conjunction with the International Municipal Lawyers Association. There’s a lot of great topics, abating a nuisance, hoarders, 4th Amendment issues and more. You can find the registration form at http://www.imla.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=128&Itemid=319
I recognize that hoarding cases can be extremely time consuming to deal with and difficult for a property maintenance inspector because the person the inspector is dealing with is not rational about the state of the inside of the residence but I don’t think that’s a reason to do nothing. A woman died in her home in Skokie, IL and the only way to get her was to cut a hole in the roof in this story reported today. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=395161 I had a case last week where the defendant pleaded guilty (he doesn’t even live in the home anymore but stays in an extended stay hotel due to the condition of the house) and the judge ordered him to remove the rubbish within 30 days. I had a picture of a dumpster on the property with just a small amount of items in it to show he hadn’t made much progress. The defendant said he couldn’t possibly do it within 30 days because of his physical condition. After quizzing him, the judge determined that he had the financial resources to hire someone to do it for him. Then the defendant argued that that wasn’t possible because that person wouldn’t know what to keep and what to throw away. The judge told him that he could do that by being the manager of the rubbish removal and he could give directions to the hired help. The defendant still protested but we’ll see next month if progress has been made.
It’s that time of year again when I get questions about notice to offenders who don’t cut their grass. Some of the inspectors complain that owners of property rely on the notice the local jurisdiction sends them as a signal that it’s time to mow their lawn or property lot. The most frequent question I get is whether one notice is sufficient or whether a notice needs to be sent every time the property needs to be mowed again. It all depends on what your code says. If the code requires a notice before you can write a ticket, then that’s what you have to do. Owners take advantage of this because they cut the grass after they get the notice and before you can write a ticket. Then they wait until the next notice, cut the grass and wait until the next one. This really wastes the inspectors’ time. My suggestion is to amend the code’s notice provision (if you can do that depending on state and local law) so that one notice per season is sufficient. There’s no good reason any inspector should play babysitter to a landowner. The owner needs to supervise the property or pay the consequences.
My husband and I had a wonderful time in Japan but I couldn’t ignore some interesting differences. We stayed at a Japanese inn that was part of a Buddhist Temple up in the mountains one night. It was a typical Japanese accomodation with tatami mats, futons to sleep on and a low table. Our host showed us how to stay warm with the space heaters and a futon around the table. I’m posting a picture to see how it looked. Kerosene heaters are widespread as very few homes have central heating. There is also a heater under the table so you can wrap yourself in the futon and stay warm. This is quite common but one of the fire inspectors I showed the picture to was taken aback.
Japanese inn
We also visited many temples and shrines. Our guides told us that many of them are replicas of what had been there before. Apparently many of them burn down periodically and then are rebuilt. Some temples have been replaced numerous times over the centuries (they are wooden structures). The biggest danger of fire comes from lightning. If you look closely on the left of the picture of the temple, you can see lightning rods.
The Japanese were very advanced in earthquake technology. We saw temples built almost 800 years ago that had withstood earthquakes because of how the foundation was built. I was told that when a temple burns down and is rebuilt, the foundation is built to withstand earthquakes even though modern fire prevention methods e.g. sprinklers are not part of the replacement temple.
Buddhist temple
It seems that whenever I travel to conduct trainings, I find interesting items in the local press for this blog. My trip to Troy, Michigan last week for SEMBOIA was no exception. The Detroit Free Press had a very good article about using demolition wisely to target high crime areas. http://www.freep.com/article/20100421/NEWS05/4210312/Vacant-Detroit-homes-where-crime-thrives-the-first-to-go It seems the local agencies worked to determine which vacant buildings were located in areas with the highest concentration of homicides, assaults, rapes, robberies and arsons. Instead of tearing down vacant buildings here and there throughout the city, this approach recognizes that vacant buildings breed crime and that targeting specific areas is a better use of the funds available. At a time when funds for demolition quickly run out, it’s an approach that is very smart.
I’ve been wondering for awhile when we’d begin seeing overcrowding issues crop up because of people losing their homes and moving in with relatives and friends. The Chicago Tribune has a good article at http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/ct-met-overcrowded-housing-0328-20100327,0,476974.story With 3 and 4 families in space meant for 1, we’re bound to see some tragic results. Given the economic situation in this country, are local jurisdictions looking the other way in some cases?
One of the best ideas I heard at the OBOA/MVBOC joint conference was during a discussion on what constitutes exigent circumstances. A building official said simply, “I know I have exigent circumstances when the Fire Marshall or engineer won’t go into the building to discuss the matter.” I thought that was a very good rule of thumb because it’s more than an intellectual exercise. It reminded me of a Justice Potter Stewart quote (he sat on the U.S. Supreme Court). In trying to define pornography he said that he couldn’t define it but he knew it when he saw it.
I’m just back from the SBOC conference in Lisle, IL and the OBOA and MVBOC joint conference in Dayton, Ohio. One of the things I especially enjoy, in addition to meeting new people, is getting new tips that I can pass on to other building officials and inspectors. For example, one of the attendees told me that he regularly attends sheriffs’ sales so that he can find out right away who bought the property. He may even be able to speak with someone on the spot. This way he doesn’t have to wait weeks until the deed is recorded at the Recorder of Deed’s office.
The Vacant Property Toolkit from the Business and Professional People for the Public Interest is finally ready and posted on its website at http://www.bpichicago.org/VacantPropertyResources.php I’ve written about this organization’s work in the past to address this very important issue and the Toolkit is a great starting point for any agency trying to deal with the problems presented by vacant and abandoned property.
