Landlords seek tailored flood relief

Residential landlords, still feeling ignored in the 18-month flood recovery in Cedar Rapids, are organizing a group to press for government assistance better suited to their needs.

Landlord Todd Sniegowski's over-under duplex at 914 Seventh St. SW is more than half restored, with the less-damaged upper unit and a rear guesthouse already restored and rented. But restoration has stalled on the main floor unit that took the most damage. His Small Business Administration loan ran out before he could buy new kitchen cabinets and countertops.

Taking out the SBA loan doubled Sniegowski's mortgage debt on those and two other rental units, he said. He might qualify for $24,999 per unit in recovery grants if he would guarantee that he'd rent them at federal affordable housing rents for five years, he said, but it would be a money-losing proposition with all that debt.

Similar stories could be repeated by dozens of other Cedar Rapids landlords, say the founders of FILL, or Flood Impacted Landlords. Two flood recovery programs for residential landlords have been disappointing, they say, because of the many strings attached and modest award limits.

Mari Davis, a rental property owner and manager, organized FILL after having worked for flood assistance through the Cedar Rapids Small Business Recovery group.

“We're behind where everybody else is,” Davis said. “We have day jobs, and we were busy mucking out, cleaning up and looking for money - which has been difficult to come by for many.”

A new program recently announced by Gov. Chet Culver would provide up to $15,000 in rent replacement for residential landlords who could not rent their properties because they were damaged. But it's $15,000 per landlord, not rental unit.

On just one rental unit, Davis and her husband have already lost $600 per month in rent for 18 months, or $10,800.

FILL plans to begin gathering data about affected landlords and their recovery status to build a better case for improved programs, said Terry Manternach, a FILL co-founder. He said recovery officials know the broader problem but not the details behind it.

One of the group's proposals is to change the recapture provisions of the $24,999-per-unit flood restoration assistance program. The program forces landlords who don't own and rent the covered properties for five years to repay the entire assistance amount. FILL would like to see that changed so that landlords would only have to pay back a prorated share based on the number of years that did not fulfill the requirements.

The group also has is eyeing $772,906 in Community Disaster Grant Program money it says could be used to fund a revolving loan program to help landlords buy materials and hire contractors. Of 220 properties seeking rehabilitation funds from JumpStart, 171 haven't been finished since the program began, according to FILL, because landlords lack money to buy materials and pay contractors for later reimbursement by JumpStart.