2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

216 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
member can then identify all necessary information about the property,
including who owns it. A list can be generated of those properties with a
complaint; a CDC staff member inspects the home named in the complaint,
confirms there is a violation, and contacts the homeowner to get
voluntary compliance. This process provides an opportunity to reach
out to residents and make them aware of the home-repair assistance programs
available in the city, with the ultimate goal of improving property
conditions and neighborhood stability.
If the violation is not taken care of, the CDC can notify city inspectors,
who will then inspect the property. But here the CDC must prioritize
as well, identifying those properties in the worst shape or those
most problematic for a neighborhood and directing inspectors to pursue
those first. Using the NST web app, the CDCs can map properties with
violations and determine their locations relative to community assets or
redevelopment projects. The NST web app is also used by some CDCs to
enter and maintain information on their routine inspections alongside
information uploaded from the city system into NST on actions taken
by inspectors. Before this partnership, there was no strategy for which
complaints should take precedence, nor was there the ability to track the
status of complaints. The existence of the NEO CANDO system facilitates
this more strategic approach to code enforcement.
Tax-Lien Certificate Sales
NEO CANDO has served as a powerful force in bringing together communities
to address shared challenges and come up with collective, more
regional solutions. VAPAC, which formed in 2005 to assess and address
the problems of vacancy in Cleveland, now includes representatives from
Cuyahoga County’s inner-ring suburbs. In its early years, VAPAC focused
on data acquisition for property remediation; now VAPAC members use the
data not only to document and address issues, but also to push for changes
in policies that will facilitate more strategic property disposition strategies.
Here’s one example. Cuyahoga County sells tax-lien certificates to
investment firms on properties with delinquent taxes. In turn, these
firms attempt to collect back taxes. In most instances property owners
pay up. In the case of tax-delinquent properties that are vacant or
condemned and whose owners cannot be located, the investment firms
lose interest in pursuing payment because the likelihood of collecting