>Date: Tue, 23 Nov 1999 12:09:10 -0800 (PST) The side of the American miracle that we don't hear much about..... Sally > >DIGITAL NATION > >November 22, 1999 > >Project Applies Power of Net to L.A. Housing Woes > >By Gary Chapman > >Copyright 1999, The Los Angeles Times, All Rights Reserved > >Despite the booming economy and the unprecedented wealth being >generated by high tech, U.S. cities face serious problems with >housing, especially in low-income neighborhoods. > >An interesting project at UCLA, with an impressive array of local and >national partners, is using the Internet to do something positive >about housing in Los Angeles. > >Neighborhood Knowledge Los Angeles (http://nkla.sppsr.ucla.edu) is a >Web site aimed at improving and preserving neighborhoods. NKLA is an >online tool that provides easy access to a vast collection of data >about properties and neighborhoods that are in danger of falling into >urban blight. > >The conditions the project and its partners are trying to fix are >sobering. Using U.S. Census data from 1997, the Los Angeles Citizens >Committee on Slum Housing found that the number of L.A. area rental >units occupied by tenants living below the poverty level grew from >217,200 in 1989 to 422,500 in 1995, a 95% increase over six years. >The Census' American Housing Survey reported in 1995 that in the Los >Angeles-Long Beach area there were 154,400 substandard apartments in >need of major repair, 107,900 units infested with rats and 131,700 >units without working toilets. Such grim statistics are the product >of severe pockets of poverty in Los Angeles, one of the wealthiest >cities in the world but one in which one-third of all children live >in poverty, according to U.S. Census data. The United Way of Greater >Los Angeles and Los Angeles County reports median rent for an >apartment in L.A. is $654 per month, or nearly $8,000 per year. More >than a fifth of L.A. families live below the poverty level of $16,450 >a year for a family of four, according to United Way and L.A. County. >A full-time minimum-wage worker makes about $11,000 per year. > >Leaders of the NKLA project, which is based at UCLA's School of >Public Policy and Social Research and funded by the city of Los >Angeles Housing Department, Fannie Mae and the U.S. Department of >Commerce's Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure >Assistance Program, use computer data from a variety of public >sources to look for "early warning signs" that properties in Los >Angeles are headed for unlivable status. > >"One of the best predictors of housing abandonment is tax >delinquency," said Neal Richman, director of NKLA and associate >director of UCLA's Advanced Policy Institute. The researchers >involved with the NKLA project use tax data to look for a >characteristic pattern in housing serving low-income residents. >Property tax delinquency is often followed by building code >violations and tenant complaints, then by abandonment of the >property. The worst violators are slum landlords who "work the >system" by buying a building and milking the tenants for rent without >paying for maintenance or taxes, and then disappear when the >government threatens legal action. > >The NKLA project and similar community data projects in other cities >are good examples of two phenomena made possible by the Internet. > >The first is that the Internet tends to blur the boundaries between >institutions -- in the case of NKLA between a university, the city >and county governments, and community activist organizations. This >blurring is very common in the private sector but is only beginning >to emerge in the public and civic sectors. It needs to happen more, >which means public officials need to think more creatively about >developing innovative partnerships like NKLA. > >The second phenomenon is that NKLA shows what can be done with what >would otherwise be underutilized public information. Richman says >that the key value that UCLA brings to this project is its >researchers' ability to use public data to serve specific ends, >particularly community development. > >Finally, the story of NKLA is that new technologies can be used in >ways that give people left out of the high-tech boom some real hope, >when those technologies are used as tools for solving specific, >concrete problems. > >The NKLA site and its online databases allow citizens and housing >activists to look for properties with tax problems, code violations >or other difficulties, such as tenant complaints or fire violations, >that could be precursors to abandonment, neighborhood deterioration >and urban decline. The Web site offers searchable databases by ZIP >Code or other parameters, and shows individual properties on >interactive maps of L.A. > >NKLA researchers also work with grass-roots community organizations, >tenant groups and activists to promote code enforcement by government >officials. Richman said the NKLA project and its community partners >played a role in developing the city's comprehensive slum housing >ordinance, which mandates that all properties be inspected for code >violations every three years. That, in turn, is having an effect on >improving compliance by property owners. > >One group that finds the NKLA tools useful is Concerned Citizens of >South-Central Los Angeles, a nonprofit community organization that >works with residents to improve conditions in South-Central >neighborhoods. > >Executive Director Juanita Tate says that the organization is >developing a land trust for housing in the South-Central community, >which has the oldest housing in the city. The organization buys >properties that are available because of tax delinquency or other >problems, such as loan defaults, foreclosures, then helps first-time >home buyers acquire the properties and refurbish them. > >"The NKLA tools have been very, very helpful to our program," Tate >said. "We can use the data and the maps to research the condition and >status of a property and get a very clear picture for our program >clients. It's just fabulous." > >All of this is made possible through access to information gleaned >from public data. "We couldn't do this on our own because we can't >afford this kind of research or these kinds of people," Tate said. >"Our university partnerships with UCLA and Occidental have been >great." > >Another Concerned Citizens' project is POWER (People Organizing for >Worker and Environmental Rights). Under the program, 10 students from >Jefferson and Vermont high schools use NKLA's tools and data to >research community sites for new public schools in the area. The >community wants to avoid repeating the problems of Jefferson Middle >School, which was built on top of an environmental hazard. > >"The technical skills come together with the organizing work," said >Melodie Dove, director of youth programs for Concerned Citizens. "We >provide the computers for these young people because a lot of them >don't get access in school, and they're interested in developing >their computer skills." The group has a computer-training facility >with 20 computers that was funded by Microsoft. > >The students and others also can look at maps of hazardous waste >areas in Los Angeles on a Web site developed by Occidental College, >Liberty Hill Foundation and the California Endowment >(http://www.oxy.edu/departments/ess/ejmpst.htm). > >These are some inspirational ways to use computers and the Internet >for hope instead of hype. The people doing this kind of work are true >local heroes. > >Gary Chapman is director of the 21st Century Project at the >University of Texas at Austin. He can be reached at >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >------------------------------------------ > >To subscribe to a listserv that forwards copies of Gary Chapman's >published articles, including his column "Digital Nation" in The Los >Angeles Times, send mail to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Leave the subject line blank. 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