Substandard Housing in Geneva - Final Project

SUBSTANDARD HOUSING INGENEVACatholic CharitiesCristian CedaceroLeslie CarreseMelanie DeVuystChelsea England

302seeking new revelations, or enquire for the whispers of disembodied spirits,but be satisfied with this good household bread which God has preparedfor his people; and while others may loathe and dislike it, let us be thankfulfor it and acknowledge with gratitude the bread which came down fromheaven, testifying to us, as it does, of the Lord Jesus, the Word of life thatliveth and abideth for ever.I. Notice, first, THE WORD APPRECIATED. This exclamation of David is aclear proof that he set the highest possible value upon the Word of God.The evidence is more valuable, because the Scripture that David had wasbut a slender book compared with this volume which is now before us. Isuppose he had little more than the five Books of Moses, and yet, as heopened that Pentateuch, which was to him complete in itself, he said,“How sweet are thy words unto my taste!” If that first morsel so satisfiedthe psalmist, surely this fuller and richer feast of heavenly dainties ought tobe yet more gratifying to us. If, when God had but given him the first dishof the course, and that by no means the best, his soul was ravished with it,how should you and I rejoice, with joy unspeakable, now that the King hasbrought on royal dainties, and given us the revelation of his dear Son!Think a minute. The Pentateuch is what we should call, nowadays, thehistorical part of Scripture; and haven’t you frequently heard persons say,“Oh, the sermon was historical, and the minister read a passage out of thehistorical parts of the Word. I have, with great pain, heard persons speak ina very depreciating manner of the histories of Holy Writ. Now, understandthis. The part of the Word which David loved so much is mainly historical,and if the mere history of the Word was so sweet, what ought those holyEvangels and sacred Epistles to be which declare the mystery of thatnarrative, — which are the honey whereof the Old Testament is but thecomb, — which are the treasures of which the Old Testament is but thecasket? Surely we are to be condemned indeed who do not prize the Wordnow that we have it all.That Word of God, which David so much prized, was mainly typical,shadowy, symbolical. I do not know that he understand it all. I do knowthat he understood some of it, for some of his Psalms are so evangelicalthat he must have perceived the great sacrifice of God foreshadowed in thesacrifices described in the books of Numbers and Leviticus, or it would nothave been possible that he should, in so marvellous a style, express his faithin the great offering of our Lord Jesus. I put it to some professors here, do

Glossary¨ Substandard - Housing units that have one or more major and/orcritical structural defects, but can still be repaired for a reasonableamount. The degree of substandard is either moderate or severeaccording to the number of defects and the degree of deficiency.¨ Moderately Substandard - Housing units that have less than threemajor defects and can be restored to a standard condition for areasonable cost.¨ Severely Substandard - Housing units that have three or moremajor defects or at least one critical defect and can be restored toa standard condition for a reasonable cost (Cuomo and Towns2011:76).¤ (Cuomo and Towns 2011:76).

So What?¨ Two million Americans occupy homes that are severelydamaged while 4.8 million occupy homes that aremoderately damaged (Krieger and Higgins 2002:758)¨ A study in North Carolina found that substandardconditions along with other environmental factorscould contribute to illnesses and chronic diseasesincluding asthma, developmental problems, birthdefects, and some types of cancer (Chenoweth, Estes,and Lee 2009)

What Has Been Done?¨ Healthy Homes Initiative established by Congress in1999 to¤ “develop and implement a program of research anddemonstration projects that would address multiple housingrelatedproblems affecting the health of children,” (Pollacket al. 2008: 3)¨ “The Dynamics of Immigration and Local Governance inSanta Ana: Neighborhood Activism, Overcrowding, andLand-use Policy,” (Harwood and Myers 2002).¤ Substandard housing in regards to immigration¤ Discusses different ways of addressing the substandard issuethroughout the years

Methodology¨Communicated with local offices and offices from other communities inorder to identify their methods of quantifying substandard housing¨Local offices that were reliable resources in determining volume anddensity of substandard housing in Geneva:¤ Catholic Charities—Rochester Office¤ Legal Assistance of Western New York¤ Geneva Housing Authority¤ Participants of Just Neighbors Initiative¤ Code Enforcement Office¤ Salvation Army¤ Finger Lakes Migrant Health Association¤ Safe Harbors¨Compiled the number of houses in Geneva that do not comply with NYScode enforcement laws

Rental Properties in Geneva, NY• 4,800 Total Parcels• 2,546 Rented Buildings• ~200 vacant houses inGeneva, NYBurki et al. 2008

Conditions of Parcels in Geneva, NYBurki et al. 2008

Findings¤ We found that 53% of the parcels in Geneva arerented¤ 21.75% of rental units are substandardn Does not include the 833 one and two family units inGeneva because New York State no longer requiresone and two family rental units to be inspected¤ Thus, we calculated a potential range ofsubstandard houses in Geneva: 295 rentalunits-565 rental units

Rental Units and Vacant Houses that are Substandard inGeneva, New York

A Call to Action!¨¨¨¨¨Definition of what is substandard is inconsistent and subjectiveThere is no actual public record of all houses that are substandard in GenevaThere is a need for better communication between community partners in terms ofwhat safe housing is available in GenevaResolving this issue is to the advantage of everyone in the community and it’s futuremembersFuture project for the Sociology Senior Seminar-market analysis of Geneva

References¤Burki, Charles et al. 2008. “The Neighborhoods of Geneva, NY.” A Report on Strategic Investments inCommunity Health and Strong Markets. Alexandria, Virginia: czbLLC.¨ Certificate of Occupancy. 2012. “Legal Definition of Certificate of Occupancy.” Retrieved April, 11 2012(http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Certificate+of+Occupancy)¨¨¨¨¨Chenoweth, David, Chris Estes, and Christopher Lee. 2009. "The Economic Cost Of Environmental FactorsAmong North Carolina Children Living In Substandard Housing." American Journal Of Public Health 99.(2009): S666-S674. Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson).Cuomo, Andrew M. and Daryl C. Towns. 2011. New York State Homes and Community Renewal. CommunityDevelopment Block Grant Program Annual Competitive Application. Albany: New York Office of CommunityRenewal.Harwood, Stacy, and Dowell Myers. 2002. "The Dynamics of Immigration and Local Governance in SantaAna. Neighborhood Activism, Overcrowding, and Land-Use Policy." Policy Studies Journal 30.1: 70-91.Higgins, Donna L. and James Krieger. 2002. “Housing and Health: Time Again for Public Health Action.”American Journal of Public Health 92 (5): 758-768Pollack, Craig et al. 2008. “Where We Live Matters For Our Health: The Links Between Housing and Health.”Housing and Health (2) February 3, 2012 (http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/commissionhousing102008.pdf).