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C TYOE1 1 ~ ~ CITY H ALL ATLANTA, GA. 30303 Tel . 522-4453 Area Code 404 DEPART ~IE:--;T OF PL..\NNl l'\ G CO L LI ER B. GLAD IN, Di rec; cor January IO, 1969 Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. City of Atlanta City Hall Atlanta, Georgia Dear Mayor Allen: In developing a new Housing Code Compliance Program the Planning Department and Building Department are convinced that a city-wide field survey of housing conditions must be conducted in the second quarter of 1969. A new survey is the only way to obtain the information necessary to es tab I ish the Ieve I of accomplishment of the original Housing Code Compliance Program and to develop realis t ic pr iorities for housing code inspections for the next several years. No accurate or complete information has been maintained on housing condition changes within thP. ~ity since the 1965 Community Improvement Program Survey, and an ·efficient, new program cannot be developed from obsolete management information. Both the Building Department and Planning Department believe the proposed survey will facilitate the development of a more effective Housing Code Compliance Program. In short, there is no other way to quantitatively and qualitatively measure the level of accomplishment of the first five year Housing Code Compli a nce Program, to wit: which areas have been stabilized; which areas have regressed; which areas are continuing to decline and for what reasons; which areas require more constant surveillance than that provided to this point; how can we more effectively apply our personnel and what additional personnel will be required to halt slum and blight development and spread, etc. Who should undertake the proposed survey? For several reaso ns , the two Departments feel that Housing Code Inspectors are ideally suited to conduct the necessary field survey: �Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. -2- January 10, 1969 L The original five year inspection program has been accomplished ahead of schedule. All of the original inspections have been · completed. What remains are uncompl ied cases which can be · assigned to the Sector Inspectors, plus hand Iing city-wide inspections on a . complaint basis. Thus, the Concentrated Area Inspectors would be in a logical position wherein they co~ld begin immediate preparations for the proposed field survey. 2. The proposed field survey must be initiated in the next few months. HUD requirements on the Workable Program provide for a Housing Code Compliance Program. The Workable Program must be recertified in September, 1969 and current information is essential to its preparation. Since. the survey will take at least three months to complete, actual fie Id work must begin by the first of March at the very latest to be of greatest use. Consequently, time being a major factor we must use those personnel most familiar with the type of information being sought. 3. The inspectors are better qualified than anyone else in the city to conduct a Housing Conditions Survey. They have inspected the city's houses for five years; they know what to look for and can be quickly trained in survey techniques because of thei.r background in housing terminology, conditions and experience in meeting the public. 4. The inspectors will be required to furnish continuous information to keep the survey data updated. In other words, their observations during the course of later inspections wi 11 be fed back into the central record keeping system to keep the housing conditions statistics current. The experience they will gain while conducting the survey will be invaluable training for this future role, and 5. The inspectors will gain valuable familiarity with all areas of the city during the survey which will be of use to them at a l.ater date when they are making inspections and attempting to obtain comp I iances. Since the present program is running ahead of schedule relative to original inspections, it is recommended that extensive time and manpower be devoted to uncomplied cases in order to gain more lasting compliances prior to initiating any new program. As soon as the field survey techniques and policies are developed~ ten of the inspectors would be assigned to the .survey . This. would leave the other ten inspectors to concentrate on obtaining compliances and to cover city-wide inspections on a complaint basis. The ten ., �Mayor Ivan Allen, Jr. -3- January IO, 1969 inspectors on the survey team .can complete ly cover the city in three to four months, enabling the Planning Department to use this information in developing a new Housing Code Compliance Program. In turn, the new Housing Code Compliance Program can be incorporated into the 1969 Workable Program. A more complete and detailed explanation of the contents of this letter is contained in trHousing Code Compliance Program: Interim Proposal, 1969. 11 Background material is contained in 11 The Housing Code Compliance Program: Background and Present Situation (Problems and Recommendations for Action)." Both of these are produc; \s of departmental staff and attached he reto. We seek your endorsement of this proposal . If .further explanation or additional information is required we will be pleased to meet with you at your convenience .. · Sincerely, ~&~_,JR~W,.~;__, Collier B. Gladin Planning Director 143.215.248.55 ~ 143.215.248.55 William R. Wofford Building Official CBG/WRW/jp Attachments �