MIAMI – March 18, 2009 – Lizzette Nieves keeps the blinds down during the day, makes sure someone is always at home and never leaves the house after sundown.
In her Venetia Groves community in Homestead, vandals have targeted vacant homes -- a trend on the uptick as the homeowners' association no longer can afford to operate guard gates. More than half of the neighborhood's homes are facing foreclosure.
In communities throughout Miami-Dade, neighborhoods like Venetia Groves have become the collateral damage in the foreclosure crisis stomping across South Florida. By the end of February, 4,588 homes in Miami-Dade -- or one of every 272 -- were either in foreclosure or bank-owned.
To protect property values and prevent block after block of unchecked blight, cities are enacting measures to contend with their bloated inventory of foreclosed homes and condos. They're hitting mortgage holders with hefty fines. They're sending out city code enforcement officers to mow and paint. They're drafting laws to compel banks to post bonds.
"Cities are going to have to do something," said Doral Mayor Juan Carlos Bermudez.
Doral has almost 1,700 homes in various stages of foreclosure -- some of which have been targeted by teenage trespassers. The City Council recently passed a law allowing code enforcement officers to clean up abandoned foreclosed properties.
"It's a fine line between protecting the rights of property owners and the quality of life of residents," Bermudez said.
Among the local cities hit hardest by foreclosures: Miami 7,876, Homestead 3,081, Miami Beach 3,052. These are cumulative numbers.
"I'm actually afraid to go out," said Nieves, who works for a Homestead title company. Like many, she is behind on her mortgage payments and the value of her home, bought for $210,000 in 2005, has fallen. (It's now worth about $50,000).
"If I have to let my house go, I'll let it go," she said. "I'm not going to live in fear."
The foreclosure crisis has been particularly acute in moderate-to-lower income communities like Homestead, Hialeah and Miami Gardens, which is allowing a nonprofit Neighborhood Housing Services to operate out of City Hall.
But affluent cities have not been immune.
"We are seeing more properties run down and abandoned," said Coral Gables Building and Zoning Director Ed Weller.
The Gables has 494 homes in foreclosure. "We have a process that if a property is not being maintained and we have sent correspondence to comply with our city codes, we send a city contractor to clean up the property and then place a lien for the cost," said Eli Gutierrez, the city's lead code enforcement officer.
Palmetto Bay, which has 428 homes facing foreclosure, has passed an emergency ordinance, dubbed Mow & Go, allowing contractors legal access to foreclosed or abandoned properties.
The city will try to recoup its costs -- it budgeted $65,000 for the program -- by slapping the homes with liens.
"Turning around the look of just one abandoned home in a neighborhood -- especially if it is right next door to your home -- helps the image of the entire neighborhood," said Bill Kress, a city spokesman.
Neighboring Cutler Bay, which has 1,525 homes facing foreclosure, requires the owners to maintain vacant properties or be subject to a fine.
Miami Lakes has gone a step further. At the urging of residents whose homes were infested with rats from nearby abandoned properties, the Town Council passed a law in December allowing code enforcement officers to clean up foreclosed properties that have been abandoned. Miami Lakes has 455 properties in various stages of foreclosure.
"In the past, when people abandoned a foreclosed property, the only thing we could do is keep fining them until we put a lien on them," said Miami Lakes Mayor Michael Pizzi. "Under the new law, the town has an obligation to go out there, cut the grass, paint the house, secure the property."
South Miami is considering a similar law, while North Miami Beach is drafting a proposal that would require banks to post bonds to pay for maintenance done by city workers.
In Homestead, cases are going before a special master, who has the power to assess fines. The special master has levied $25,605 in fines and administrative fees since October, a 69.2 percent jump over the same period a year ago.
Cities are also seeking federal and state assistance. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pledged $161 million in grant money for South Florida cities.
Local cities on the list include Miami, North Miami, Homestead, Miami Gardens and Hialeah.
Hialeah wants to use its share of the money to build $300-a-month rental units.
Homestead, which is getting almost $3 million from the fund, plans to buy and rehabilitate rental properties for low-income families, demolish damaged houses and provide down-payment assistance for single-family home buyers, said city spokeswoman Lillian Delgado.
State lawmakers are considering legislation establishing a statewide Internet registry for abandoned properties and allowing local governments to enter vacant properties.
Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin has been pushing for legislative action to ease the burden on condo and homeowners' associations, which don't have ample funds to pay for maintenance.
"The federal government can continue to print money, condominiums can't," said Arthur Barr, a board member at the Wilshire Condominium on Miami Gardens Drive in Northeast Miami-Dade, which is facing a $300,000 budget shortfall. About 30 percent of the 400 units in the building are either in foreclosure, or are delinquent on their maintenance and assessment fees.
"And that's happening all over," he said.
Copyright © 2009, The Miami Herald, Rebecca Dellagloria. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. Miami Herald staff writers Howard Cohen, Elaine de Valle, Lazaro Fraga, Patricia M. Gonzalez, Laura Morales, Yudy Pineiro, Carli Teproff and Tania Valdemoro contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
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