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Neighbors Cite Crime, Go After Apartments
Lake Highlands: Homeowners group files complaint
The Dallas Morning news, by Wendy Hundley
May 1, 2006
A Lake Highlands advocacy group is trying a new tactic to pressure owners of two apartment complexes that residents say are crime-ridden and don't pay taxes.
The Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association has filed a complaint with a state-mandated affordable housing corporation that helped finance the Bent Creek and Creekwood Village apartments.
Over the past 12 months, more than 300 crimes have been reported at those properties, Dallas police records show.
They include reports of assault, burglary, theft, possession of drugs and murder.
Steve Wakefield, president of the improvement group, said the unusual strategy "is an experiment to see if there is some sort of pressure or enforcement mechanism that can be used" to reduce criminal activity at the apartments.
The association has taken an increasingly active role in trying to fight blight in Lake Highlands.
It has hosted a crime summit, fought drug paraphernalia in stores, fended off a proposed nightclub and supported a Dallas lawsuit against another apartment complex with a long list of code violations.
Besides highlighting neighborhood crime, the recent complaint by the alliance of homeowners brings to focus another issue: the tax benefit carried by the nonprofit corporation that owns the complexes.
"These complexes don't pay property taxes but are drawing a considerable amount of police and code [enforcement] resources," Mr. Wakefield said.
The group filed its complaint with the Texas State Affordable Housing Corp., which was created by state law to issue bonds to finance single-family and multi-family housing for low- and moderate-income residents.
Four years ago, it helped the American Housing Foundation, a nonprofit based in Amarillo, purchase Bent Creek and Creekwood apartments.
Calls to Steve Sterquell, president of the foundation, were not returned.
While the affordable housing office no longer has any financial ties to the nonprofit, it continues to monitor the properties.
"We want to make sure they're fulfilling their promise of providing safe and affordable housing," said Katherine Closmann, executive vice president of the Texas State Affordable Housing Corp. "If there's a safety problem, that's an issue."
The group's asset oversight committee recently inspected the two apartment complexes. "They did see some of the issues that the property owners are talking about," Ms. Closmann said. "They're going to make some suggestions in terms of security."
The report is due in a few days.
While officials can make recommendations to the apartment owners, the affordable housing corporation has limited powers, Ms. Closmann said.
"We could sue them," she said. "But frankly, they've been cooperating with us. We aren't close to that type of drastic measure."
She confirmed that American Housing Foundation is exempt from paying property taxes on the two apartments.
They were purchased when state law granted tax-exempt status to affordable housing organizations.
"That law has now been changed," Ms. Closmann said. "In Dallas they would have to get permission from every taxing entity to be exempt."
Because the tax exemption was granted before the law changed, the owners will be free from taxes until the properties are sold, she said.
The Bent Creek apartment complex has a long history of crime.
It was one of three apartment complexes targeted in Operation Kitchen Sink, a monthlong sweep that began in December 2004 to rid housing areas of drugs and crime.
It was also the focus of a November police raid that netted several arrests for drugs, theft and an illegal weapon.
In February, a 32-year-old man was shot and killed after an argument at Bent Creek, which has logged 126 reported crimes in the past year.
Mr. Wakefield said his organization is trying to find ways to make these apartments more accountable to the community.
"They have to be owned and managed in a responsible manner on a sustained basis," he said. "I don't mean a temporary improvement for a matter of months."
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