In front of a dilapidated house on Clarke St., Jared Kraham, a mayoral candidate and current Executive Assistant to the Mayor of Binghamton, announced his plans for safe housing and code enforcement. Kraham says by cracking down on slumlords, Binghamton neighborhoods can be revitalized. 

Kraham's Plan

Kraham's plan begins with creating a new position for an attorney to prosecute slumlords. This position is meant to prosecute code cases in city court. Kraham said many landlords in the city of Binghamton are not held accountable for continuous code violations. Kraham mentioned local landlord Isaac Anzaroot by name when referring to some of the city's worst offenders.

"The fact is that more resources are needed from the city," Kraham said. "These bad actors, these bad landlords who own dozens of properties across the City of Binghamton and have no intention of fixing them up, or allow them to deteriorate and hurt the neighborhoods around them. My safe housing plan will tackle these issues specifically in a number of different ways. Focusing on enforcement of the derelict properties, but also supporting the good home numbers."

Kraham added that this position will lead a housing integrity task force. The focus is enterprise-level investigations of unsafe housing conditions. This position may make referrals to both criminal prosecution and or state enforcement agencies. 

Per Kraham, there have been city attorneys who work on code enforcement, but this position will be an attorney solely dedicated to prosecution on enforcement. This is in contrast to past attorneys who cover a wider umbrella. Kraham's plan includes only one attorney at this position but elaborated that as time goes on he would not rule out the possibility of adding more lawyers.

Kraham's next initiative would be to hire more code and building inspectors. Currently, on the City of Binghamton's website, there are four inspectors. Kraham said he would add two or three enforcement officers. The city's budget includes a refund of one officer, but Kraham said he wants to explore all options before using tax dollars to hire more staff. The plan also states that this will likely not happen at once, rather over the course of a few years. 

"We're going to get that additional code enforcement officer, and then see how resources are deployed," Kraham said. "One of the other things I'd like is for these new officers to work in tandem with the attorney position as well. And you know we still need to work out details of how exactly that will function. There are many different funding sources including grant funding that could pay for those. So before, utilizing local tax dollars, we need to explore all options in terms of how those things can be paid for."

The third aspect of the plan is to deny building permits to property tax scofflaws. Kraham's plan is to adopt a new local law that requires applications for building permits providing evidence that the building is not subject to delinquent taxes. 

"Slum lords will no longer be able to stiff taxpayers while renting out units, generating income but never paying their taxes," Kraham said. "Of course exceptions may be made regarding occupied units for life safety issues, but we need to be strong, we need to be firm on the slum Lords that fail to fix up their properties."

Kraham, a Republican, also added that he wants to create transparency among code violations. To do this, he suggests municipal software or website that allows records to be searched by the public. This allows renters the ability to track repeat offenders. 

Kraham also said it is important to invest in both first-time homebuyers and senior home repair. He hopes to help fixed-income and longtime homeowners while attracting Binghamton University students to stay in the area.

"Help seniors fix up their homes," Kraham said. "Everything from a leaky faucet to front steps, new windows, making it compliant if folks are in a wheelchair, so they can stay in their homes. We don't want Binghamton seniors who have lived here for decades, who have paid taxes for decades to move elsewhere because they can't afford to fix up their home. We want to keep them here."

Expanding affordable housing opportunities is also a key factor in Kraham's plan. The plan hopes to build new units of safe and quality housing. Kraham added that this creates an opportunity for economically distressed areas.

Lastly, Kraham endorsed Broome County Land Bank. He said the city needs to support the Land Bank similarly to the way the county does. 

Kraham is taking on Democrat Joe Burns in November's election.