COH talks about anti-hoarding ordinance

[trymahjong]

from Ellen Cohen enewsletter

March Quality of Life Committee Meeting

Council Member Cohen will chair,(David Robinson co-chair) the March meeting of the Quality of Life Committee on Wednesday, March 26th at 2:00PM. The committee expects to view presentations on a proposed anti-hoarding ordinance; the Houston Department of Health and Human Services; and possible locations for a Houston Botanical Garden. The Committee meeting will be held in Council Chambers at City Hall (901 Bagby St, 2nd floor) and is open to the public. Citizens will have the opportunity to address the committee and may sign up to do so the day-of in Council Chambers.

 

[Subdude]

I couldn't really find anything on this.  What kind of hoarding are they considering passing an ordinance about?  Is this kind of thing enforceable?

 

 

[brhaltx]

And then there's the definition of hoarding...

[trymahjong]

I searched on this topic also. I couldn't find anything.

 

 It's funny but Cohen hosts meetings (bi-yearly) of what she calls Ambassadors from the 80 or so civic associations within District C. She encourages residents to bring up subjects that are being talked about within District C; everyone attending has a chance to hear all the hot topics, also she gives a rundown of what council is considering. I attended the meeting in March. Most of the meeting was taken up giving step by step instructions (with powerpoint) of how to navigate the links on the COH website. The most interesting thing was the cars with the pink mustaches, that I posted somewhere else. But nothing about this ant-hoarding. It was a couple of weeks later that it appeared in her enewsletter. I would have preferred hearing about  the anti-hoarding --I have all of these visions of that TV series and speculate that some branch of HPD (will be pulled off street patrol ) sent to all those pitiful people to investigate. :/ 

[mkultra25]

I suspect that the proposed ordnance will aim to give landlords more leverage to streamline the eviction process for tenants who have been designated as hoarders.

 

There's been a fair amount of coverage recently in NYC concerning a renter whose longtime hoarding had gotten to the point where it was making life increasingly unpleasant for both his neighbors and the landlord. The landlord essentially wound up bribing him to move out by offering a cash payment contingent on his vacating the premises by a specified date (it was a rent-controlled apartment). The tenant, having nowhere else to go and not a lot of money, accepted the deal and barely managed to clear everything out in time after the deadline was extended. I think he'd previously appeared on an episode of "Hoarders". Google "Kevin McCrary" for the full story.  

[Blue Dogs]

We also need to teach these bucks a lesson in cleaning up after themselves.