Thread: MD: Experts look into causes for illegal rooming houses

Overcrowding in Frederick
Experts look into causes for illegal rooming houses
Originally published July 31, 2007


By Joseph M. deLeon
News-Post Staff

Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the problem of overcrowded housing in the county. Tomorrow, part two will detail experts' proposed solutions.

Experts agree a combination of economic, social, legal and cultural factors contributes to overcrowded housing in Frederick. That may be part of the reason the city's code enforcement office has experienced an increase in complaints about overcrowded dwellings.

Last week, city code enforcers condemned 5712 Butterfly Lane. The inspectors also served six cease-and-desist orders on properties scattered around the city that have been illegally converted from single-family dwellings into rooming houses.

Peter Zamora works as the regional counsel in Washington for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. The organization works to advocate for and protect the rights of the more than 45 million Hispanics in the U.S.

Zamora believes the lack of immigration reform at the federal level has led some local governments to use regulations to target immigrants.

He points to a recent measure in Prince William County, Va., that denies undocumented immigrants access to community services, such as health care and education. It authorizes county workers to verify the immigration status of anyone on whom a reasonable suspicion exists.

"Certainly, a local community has the ability to put in place health and safety regulations -- if it's addressing a real concern, it can be legitimate," Zamora said. "But often we have seen something that has been framed as health- and safety-related that has another purpose."


Is immigration the issue?

Mike Blank, the city's code enforcement manager, said last week's inspections and orders have nothing to do with immigration -- the properties were either illegally converted or endangered residents' safety.

"Our office could care less if there are legal or illegal immigrants living in these properties -- that's not our concern," he said. "Even if we were looking for illegals, it wouldn't have mattered at Butterfly Lane -- the owner and people living there are legal residents."

Inspectors found nine people, including four children, living in the two-bedroom residence which had been converted into an illegal rooming house.

At one time, more than a dozen people lived there, a resident said after the inspection. Occupants used eight makeshift bedrooms, a crude basement kitchen and a backyard shed converted into a living space.

Blank said the house was targeted because it received the most complaints.

While the investigation spanned about a year, last month Mayor Jeff Holtzinger authorized $30,000 for overtime needed to conclude the investigation and increase inspections on other properties.

"There is always a cost to everything, but that's not a factor here," Blank said. "Our main focus is to make sure everyone has a safe place to live in and to protect the quality of life in our community."


Causes of overcrowding

A high cost of living and rising property values top the list of reasons experts gave to explain why some people are forced to live in overcrowded conditions.

Mike Spurrier, director of the Frederick Community Action Agency, said costs rise the closer residents live to Washington. The agency provides food, shelter, medical care, housing and other forms of assistance to low-income or homeless people.

Residents in Montgomery County, between Washington, D.C., and Frederick County, pay an average of 33 percent more than the national average for living expenses, according to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. It costs residents about 14 percent more than average to live in Frederick County. Washington County residents pay about average, while those in Allegany County pay about 20 percent less than average.

"Definitely, an issue of the overcrowding sits in the cost of housing -- it's skyrocketing in Frederick," Spurrier said. "People tend to double up because they can't afford to live on their own."

Not having the proper documents can make it impossible for immigrants to find a place to rent, Spurrier said. That often leads to substandard or overcrowded housing, regardless of their legal status.

"You could be a legal immigrant from Russia, but have difficulty establishing a credit history," he said. "Many landlords are looking for credit reports, but immigrants don't have access to that."

Language barriers and differences in culture make things worse, he said. Even native English-speakers don't understand jargon on leases or other legal documents. Many immigrants don't have the money to hire an interpreter.

In other countries, it's common for several generations to live together in a single house.

"It's human nature for people to want to be around those they feel comfortable with," Spurrier said. "If you go to any major metro area, you'll see communities who are Irish or Cuban or Russian living in neighborhoods where they feel culturally connected to each other."


Not enough help

Jenny Short, director of Housing and Community Development for Frederick County, said the closing of public housing projects and the lack of affordable residences also contribute to overcrowding.

For years, the county has offered housing vouchers and federal rental subsidies to families who earn less than 50 percent of the median income, which was $69,005 in 2004.

More residents have applied than the county can help. Waiting lists are closed because of scarce money, Short said. That keeps the program manageable and prevents false hope.

Eileen Barnhard, the city's housing rehabilitation financial specialist, said a sluggish economy, rising cost of living and the high price of real estate also contribute to overcrowded housing. An increase in adjustable rate mortgage foreclosures made things worse.

"When you have an adjustable rate, that rate sometimes goes up every six months," she said. "People have become very marginalized using upwards of 45 percent of their income for these deals."

The rule of thumb used to be to spend about one-third of income on housing expenses, but most people spend much more, she said. The cost of living is not proportionate to people's incomes.

"It's not just the cost to buy a house that's rising, it's also the cost to live in that house -- the cost of gas has doubled and tripled, electricity is rising, food prices have gone up," Barnhard said. "People are putting themselves in debt and living paycheck to paycheck trying to survive."


Housing workers

A booming job market and gentrification concern James Upchurch, director of Interfaith Housing Alliance. The alliance is the largest nonprofit affordable housing association in Frederick County.

As more jobs come to Frederick, the professionals they draw displace those in mid- to low-income households, he said. That's because houses can't be built fast enough to meet the demand.

As more high-earning residents come to Frederick, the need for service workers also rises, he said. When teachers, shopkeepers and first responders can't find a place to live, they either commute or double up.

"There is a real disconnect between the jobs that are coming here, like to Fort Detrick, and the growing needs of the community," Upchurch said. "People with lower-paying jobs are taking advantage of the jobs we want them to do, but when you don't create affordable housing, these people don't have a lot of options here in town."

Richard Yeron, director of Centro de Familia, provides social services to immigrants. He compared the living arrangements of many immigrants to those of college students -- they rent a house, divide up the living spaces and split the rent.

He described two clients, both engineers at Bechtel Corporation, who share the cost of a two-bedroom apartment.

"They can't afford to have their own housing," Yeron said. "For two Ph.D. engineers educated in this country to go through that, you can imagine what it must be like for people who don't have an education."

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sectio ... ryID=63172

First he plays the race card.

Zamora believes the lack of immigration reform at the federal level has led some local governments to use regulations to target immigrants.

Second, he continues with an implication of racial profiling while he trys to convince us that the illgeals (undocumented) are entitlied ot benefits and services legally like ordinary citizens.

He points to a recent measure in Prince William County, Va., that denies undocumented immigrants access to community services, such as health care and education. It authorizes county workers to verify the immigration status of anyone on whom a reasonable suspicion exists.

Third, he tries to win us over by agreeing with our approach but tries to convince you that our verification process is put in place to racially profile.

Certainly, a local community has the ability to put in place health and safety regulations -- if it's addressing a real concern, it can be legitimate," Zamora said. "But often we have seen something that has been framed as health- and safety-related that has another purpose."

Zamora would have us believe that we're supposed to give benefits and services to the illegals and change our laws so that the illegals cannot be identified and are never supposed to be targeted for being here illegally.

I believe God created us equally, but differently so that we may be able to identify our enemies, that would include those who would invade us.

If we all looked the same, we wouldn't be able to identify our enemies. God wants us to be able to identify our enemies in order to defend ourselves (we identified the Japanese civilians for interrogation living in the US after Pearl was bombed and it served us well, we may have one the war because we did this). And make no mistake, those who would invade us (cross our borders WITHOUT permission) are our enemies, like any other nation would consider these actions perpetrated against them.

Those who would invade us ARE our enemies. Those who would conspire against us who are supposed to be our comrades are not only our enemies, but they are the evil ones.

We have that in Miami. I have heard from the appliance repair man that he has been in large homes where the livingroom was full of Haitians sleeping on air mattresses. In fact he had to walk over people to get to the kitchen. The cable company Comcast employees have told me simialr stories. In my condo complex there are some large units that have been subdivided into multiple rooms which are rented to illegals. The condo president came to me for help on that one as the neighbors are complaining. I gave him 2 options call ICE and the building code department. ICE will deal with the renters and the county will go after the owners for no work permit and will fine them and make them tear down what was not originally there.
These ignorant people don't understand that living in overcrowded hoems is a fire hazard.

Sounds like someone needs to let them know there is plenty of room in New Haven. Maybe they could sleep in some of the Catholic churches there.

These ignorant people don't understand that living in overcrowded hoems is a fire hazard.

Flashback to the fire in NYC a couple of years ago where those kids died living in an overcrowded apartment....

The answer isn't complicated. It's obvious.

There's overcrowding in houses because these backward, uneducated neanderthals (aka illegal immigrants) breed out of control and then have these large families they can't afford to house in a dignified manner. So they all crowd into one hosue and live like animals.