“In my view, we should have zero tolerance for slum owners and we should do everything we can to close them down,” Amarjeet Sohi said on Monday. He added that abandoned properties have become a worsening problem in Edmonton, with four people dying in fires inside closed buildings last year. The city has identified 486 new “problem properties” since 2018, the community and public services committee heard during an afternoon meeting. These locations are located mainly at the north, west and south ends of the city center, with Alberta Avenue, Jasper Place and Garneau having some of the highest numbers. “These drug houses, these drug shelters, these places of violence, abuse and oppression continue to plague the core communities of our city,” Christie Morin, a resident, said during the meeting. He lives in the area of Alberta Avenue and also has a business there. Maureen wants owners of “troubled commercial properties” to aim for higher taxes. “Our neighbors are exhausted. They no longer know what to do. And I have to say, as a 28-year-old resident, I do not know what to tell them anymore.” “It’s scary to be out in the yard at night. It has been a very difficult time in recent years,” said Cora Shaw.
COST FOR TAXPAYERS
A recent city study provided a snapshot of how much “problem real estate” can cost taxpayers. The 31 properties searched were 2669 police call locations in just three years. Alberta Inspectors and Health Services executives have been sent to these properties more than 2,000 times. “I think people should be punished financially for destroying neighborhoods … There is a cost to all the work that our city staff is doing trying to bring these properties to a certain level,” Coun said. said Andrew Knack. “People are also picking up and leaving communities because of the ongoing, horror that really arises from living near these types of properties and the ongoing threat associated with them. We just can’t let that go on,” Coun said. said Ashley Salvador. “If left untreated, the immediate cost alone will be much greater than what is being considered in the move ahead.”
SO WHAT WILL THEY DO?
The committee voted unanimously in favor of spending an additional $ 1,765,000 on “problematic properties” and studying site options. Part of this cash could be used to expand the Community Property Security Team project, which will target owners who do not comply with the regulations. Part of this investment could also provide city staff with “enhanced special resources” to deal with “problematic properties”. This money is proposed to come from redirects from a planned increase in the Edmonton Police’s budget, which was reduced by about $ 11 million last fall. Sohi also wants to do a study on what the “maximum allowable” tax rate for abandoned properties would be. A grant program is also being considered that would “have further incentives for site redevelopment”. Maggie Glasgow, a resident, said she did not support taxpayers’ subsidies for “troubled property” owners because she was concerned that some landlords would do as little as possible to make repairs and put the rest of the cash in their pockets. “If you really want to support the community, demolish these houses. Close them so that these owners do not reopen them and allow this chaos to happen all the time,” he insisted. The proposal is now proposed by the committee, but still requires the approval of a majority of city councilors at a future meeting.
