Landlords Propose Fixing City’s East Side
By Robin Vinci at April 24, 2024 | 6:15 pm | Print
Members of the Connecticut Property Owners Association (CTPOA) met Tuesday night at East Side Restaurant to discuss ways to fix up the properties on the east side of the City.
“We can work together and make it better moving forward,” said Bob DeCosmo, CTPOA president.
DeCosmo introduced a bill to the capitol that was meant to help New Britain and Waterbury with grants as target cities. New Britain was eliminated last year because of the conflict going on in the City between landlords and former Mayor Tim O’Brien and East Hartford took the City’s spot.
“I felt bad for New Britain as it was our intention to help this City,” DeCosmo told a group of about 35 property owners. “I reached out to the police and the Mayor (Erin Stewart) and found we can help fix up the City without the grant.”
The concept is identifying neighborhoods and picking out strategic streets. Then buying the properties available, to get them into the hands of responsible developers. Landlord training programs and tenant ready to rent programs will be introduced.
“This is about taking all our technology and all our contacts and focusing our energy onto the chosen streets in the specific neighborhoods we want to develop,” said DeCosmo. “We are going to start in the east side neighborhood. The good advantage here is the busway will come online shortly.”
DeCosmo said they will work with the department of transportation (DOT) to help get housing cleaned up and bring responsible people into the City.
“We our getting our guys together and targeting the opportunities and working on specific streets and we will reach out to the owners and pull them into one meeting and reach out into the tenants and pull them into another meeting,” said DeCosmo. “We did this already in Waterbury. All the good people come out. The bad tenants and landlords will not cooperate.”
Local agencies will work with the bad landlords. Money will be available for energy assistance and other programs for the good landlords.
“We have private financing available and institutional financing available so the money is not the issue,” said DeCosmo. “It’s getting the people to help make this City better.”
DeCosmo said he plans on working with the East Side NRZ and see if there are DOT grants available to help pay for fixing up housing.
“The east side neighborhoods are ripe for investment,” said Tim Stewart, chamber of commerce president. “People would benefit greatly to have these areas cleaned up.”
DeCosmo said it will be key to get $3,000-$5,000 into the hands of the homeowners who need to make visual improvements.
“We’re optimistic and I think people will be pleasantly surprised at the sources of money we can bring to this community,” said DeCosmo. “Property renovations are contagious. Once one person does it others want to do it and it raises property values.”
The goal is to get one street, fix it up and then move to the next street and do the same thing. Even small things such as every street having the same mailboxes and getting rid of weeds on sidewalks will be done. This will increase property values and bring in good tenants.
Stewart said foundation grants may be available for some of these programs.
“All the pieces of the puzzle are here. We can get a big bang for small dollars,” said DeCosmo. “It is time to do this in New Britain. We want to improve the conditions in the neighborhoods.”
