Homelessness came up at Tuesday’s city council meeting in a response to a November motion by Councilor Dan Rourke requesting information on the amount of money provided by the city to groups to “combat the homelessness crisis.” The memo came from DPD which administers the federal Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) received by the city. The recipients of this funding are:
In FY22
Alternative House - $26,500
Community Teamwork - $47,147
Eliot Presbyterian Church - $19,800
House of Hope - $35,000
SMOC/LTLC (“the shelter”) - $46,640
In FY21
Community Teamwork - $80,000
House of Hope - $35,000
SMOC/LTLC - $61,325
A member of the public had registered to speak on this agenda item. It was a woman who self-identified as homeless and as a resident of one of the outdoor encampments in the city. She had appeared before the council on a related matter several weeks ago. Her concern both times was about the city’s intent to dismantle these outdoor camps and about her ability to retrieve her belongings from the one she inhabited. (She’s now residing indoors somewhere but has property still at the encampment).
After reviewing the availability of indoor beds for homeless individuals and expressing compassion for those who find themselves homeless, the councilors collectively engaged in what’s best described as “tough love” for the affected individuals, making it clear that (1) the city cannot permit individuals to live outdoors in the wintertime no matter how determined some people are to do so; and (2) that these unregulated outdoor encampments pose a serious public health threat, not only to the public at large but also to those who reside there.
Since then, the Lowell Sun has reported that city work crews dismantled an encampment on Stackpole Street and would remove others on Plain Street near the Target Store, near the dog park on First Street, and at Kyan Street near Western Avenue Studios. (see “Homeless encampments cleaned out” in the January 12, 2023, Lowell Sun).
Browsing through a magazine as I watched this portion of the council meeting, I came upon a relevant article. In “The looming revolt over homelessness” in the January/February 2023 issue of The Atlantic, author Jerusalem Demsas cites several studies that pin the cause of homelessness squarely on the cost and availability of housing. Specifically, high rent and low vacancy rates are the primary drivers of homelessness. The author acknowledges that mental illness and drug use play a part in the crisis but they are not the cause of the crisis and to focus on them guarantees that the problem will persist.
Demsas, who previously worked at Vox and who has written extensively on America’s housing crisis and who I believe is liberal in her politics and philosophy, nevertheless blames liberal politicians for bringing us to this point. Progressives maintain that housing should be affordable, particularly for marginalized groups, but when the same progressives get elected to local office, they succumb to the will of the home-owning voters and create “a web of regulations, laws, and norms that has made blocking the development of new housing pitifully simple.”
Although Demsas criticizes progressives on this issue, it is because their failure to enact policies that will actually help solve the problem creates rising frustration in voters who in reaction turn to Republicans and law-and-order Democrats whose proposed solutions are draconian and punitive.
Through the years, I’ve heard various people who work in housing, education, health, and related fields talk convincingly about “housing first” which is a theory that says, if you can find someone permanent housing, many of the other issues plaguing them will take care of themselves.
If The Atlantic article is correct, then the most effective approach to reducing homelessness in Lowell runs through the city’s housing policy. I also know that in Lowell, 25 percent of students in the public schools experience homelessness each year so maybe the first step in improving academic performance is to focus on housing. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going to sleep at night, how can you be expected to learn and even function in school?
I often talk about the importance of strategic planning in city government, of the need to develop a comprehensive plan, get everyone to buy into the plan, and then have the discipline to follow it. Maybe if more is said about housing policy having a positive effect on homelessness, education, health care, crime, drug abuse, and many of the other challenges that confront cities like Lowell, there will be less opposition to the next affordable housing development that’s proposed.
****
Part of America’s national character is to expect a lot from government and then complain about having to pay for it. A program that helps me is good government; one that helps you is out-of-control socialism. Recognizing that, I don’t complain about paying taxes, especially to the city. I do expect that the money is spent wisely and prudently, but the jury is still out on that evaluation until we get closer to budget time and the end of the fiscal year.
I mention this because my property tax bill arrived last week. It seemed higher than in the past, so out of curiosity I looked at the amount of my own quarterly tax bills for the past ten Decembers:
2013 - $1256
2014 - $1327
2015 - $1260
2016 - $1410
2017 - $1529
2018 - $1568
2019 - $1208
2020 - $1527
2021 - $1621* (we received double bills this year so the bill was $3243 but I show half of it)
2022 - $1897
That looks like a 17 percent jump which could be attributed at least in part to rising home values (which is a good thing for existing homeowners), however, it might be wise for city government to better publicize all the services paid with this tax revenue. The city does a good job of that at budget time but maybe streamlined versions of such presentations could be given just prior to the mailing of tax bills as a reminder to those getting the bills of what we get for our tax payments.
****
Not everyone does pay their property taxes, at least not on time. That leads to tax liens which was another matter that arose at Tuesday’s meeting when the Council received an update on the upcoming tax lien auction. The list of delinquent properties has been prepared and will be published as a legal notice in the Lowell Sun (as required by law) in February. The auction will be held at least 14 days after publication. Manager Golden and Deputy CFO Austin Ball answered questions about the process with Manager Golden emphasizing the amount of outreach the city has already done and the amount of tax payments that have been received in response to that.
In Massachusetts, a municipality has an automatic lien on real estate to ensure the payment of property taxes. However, most towns will “take” the property for nonpayment of taxes within a reasonable time after the taxes are due. To do this, the city publishes a legal notice of the taking in the local newspaper and then records it at the registry of deeds. This “taking” is more of a notice than a transfer of ownership since the property owner may at any time pay the back taxes and “redeem” the property.
Six month after the taking was recorded, the city may cut off this right of redemption by filing a petition to foreclose the tax lien in the Land Court. If the court finds in the city’s favor (which it almost always does), the landowner still has a year to ask the court to vacate that judgement. After the year, the judgement is absolute.
As you might imagine, this is a lengthy and expensive process. For many years, the city and most municipalities were content to “take” the property and wait until the homeowner sold or refinanced at which time all the back taxes would be paid. However, this disrupted municipal financial planning since the tax revenue was expected (and needed) in the year it was assessed, not long after.
For that reason, many municipalities, including Lowell, began auctioning off their tax takings to private entities which, in exchange for payment of the amount bid at the auction, would be assigned the city’s rights under the taking and pursue the foreclosure in its own name. To ensure that bidders would not cherry pick the best properties and ignore the less favorable ones, the city bundles many tax liens together and sells the entire bundle in one transaction. Once the sale is finalized, the city records an assignment of each tax taking at the registry of deeds which puts the world on notice that this new entity now has all of the rights in the tax lien once held by the city. In Massachusetts, almost all of these tax lien auction bundles are purchased by a consortium of lawyers operating as a limited liability corporation. Once the assignment is recorded, they pursue the foreclosure action in the Land Court.
One feature that is somewhat unique in Massachusetts tax lien law is that the foreclosure is absolute meaning that regardless of how much is owed, the municipality or entity acting for it obtains ownership of the entire property. If there are outstanding taxes of $6,000 on a parcel that has a fair market value of $350,000, the entity conducting the tax lien foreclosure in the shoes of the city can sell the parcel for $350,000, pay the back taxes of $6,000, and pocket the rest. The prior property owner who was delinquent in their taxes gets nothing. Only eleven other states operate this way. Most require any excess funds to go back to the original property owner.
This absolute foreclosure process is being challenged in the US District Court in Boston. According to a story in the January 12, 2023, Eagle Tribune (“Federal lawsuit challenges tax foreclosure law”) a former property owner who lost his 34-acre farm in Bolton for nonpayment of taxes alleges that the absolute foreclosure law is an unconstitutional taking of property. It will be a while before that case is decided (likely after an appeal), but if the law is declared unconstitutional it will make these tax lien auctions less attractive to third party bidders.
****
On Tuesday, City Manager Golden introduced the new city solicitor, Helene Tomlinson, a graduate of New England School of Law and Simmons College who has more than 20 years of experience in private practice. Also introduced was the new First Assistant City Solicitor, Corey Williams, a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, St. Anselm College, and UMass Lowell. Williams was also in private practice in Westford and has extensive experience in collective bargaining and union negotiations.
****
A motion by Councilor Wayne Jenness requesting a report on the city’s low score on LGBTQ+ policies by the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Municipal Equality Index elicited an interesting and useful discussion that was aided by a member of the public who identified as an LGBTQ+ resident of Lowell and who gave some important background and context for this issue. The reaction of councilors and the city manager was (1) apologetic for not being as aware of this as they should have been and (2) sincerely determined to improve Lowell’s policies, not only to improve the score in next year’s rating, but more importantly, to make local government’s policies more supportive of LGBTQ+ individuals.
I confess to being among those unaware of this Index so I investigated a bit. The website of the Human Rights Campaign has a helpful FAQ page which explains that “HRC's Municipal Equality Index (MEI) demonstrates the ways that many cities can — and do — support the LGBTQ+ people who live and work there, even where states and the federal government have failed to do so.”
Lowell had the lowest ranking of the ten cities in Massachusetts as well as a lower ranking than eight other cities I randomly selected. Here are the numbers from Massachusetts:
Arlington – 100
Amherst – 75
Boston – 100
Cambridge – 100
Lowell – 50
Northampton – 100
Provincetown - 100
Salem – 100
Springfield – 74
Worcester – 100
Here are some randomly selected cities from other states for context:
Birmingham, Alabama – 100
Anchorage, Alaska – 81
Tucson, Arizona – 82
Jacksonville, Florida – 79
Topeka, Kansas – 87
Jackson, Mississippi – 71
Nashua, New Hampshire – 75
Providence, Rhode Island – 100
City Manager Tom Golden told councilors that he wants Lowell to be welcoming to everyone and believes for the most part it is, but also appreciated being directed to this study which provides a pathway for improving the city’s policies on LGBTQ+ matters. He added that he did not believe that the low score on this Index accurately reflected life in the city.
The Human Rights Campaign’s FAQ page provides some support for that position by adding this caveat to its scores:
This is not a ranking of a city’s atmosphere or quality of life. It is an evaluation of the city’s law and policies, and an examination of how inclusive city services are of LGBTQ+ people. Some high-scoring cities may not feel truly welcoming for all LGBTQ+ people, and some low-scoring cities may feel more welcoming than their policies might reflect.
I would concur with Golden’s assertion that Lowell, as the FAQ page puts it, “may feel more welcoming than [its] policies might reflect.” The manager and councilors clearly expressed a determination to align policies with values so there should be some progress in that area. The resident who spoke at the meeting promised that the LGBTQ+ community in Lowell recognizes the need to get more politically active and intends to do so which might help ensure Tuesday’s promises aren’t forgotten.
****
In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I’ve reposted on richardhowe.com an article that first appeared there on January 17, 2016. Written by Fred Faust, “Lura Smith and the MLK Jr. Celebration” is an interview of Lura Smith who along with her husband Robert founded Lowell’s annual MLK Day celebration.
****
Despite the Monday holiday, trash pickup this week will be on a normal schedule and won’t be pushed back a day due to the holiday. City Manager Golden commented that “we’re trying to get away from” changing the pickup days on holiday weeks.
I want to draw attention to Lowell Litter Krewe's statement on the Plain St cleanup (LLK was asked to help). They aren't happy with how the homeless were treated on Plain St during the cleanup. Here's the link to their statement: https://www.facebook.com/groups/648727272596837/permalink/1025661418236752/
Excellent, thoughtful reporting. Thank you.