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Redevelopment Dream Heads Toward Foreclosure

by Melissa Bailey | May 11, 2010 6:59 am

(24) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Housing, Wooster Square

Melissa Bailey Photo Fifty years ago an ambitious city plan helped a family buy and renovate a dream house in Wooster Square. Fifty years later, another aggressive city plan aims to take the family’s house away.

The story involves a row house at 12 Court St., the site of a 1960s renewal experiment that gave working families the chance to own and fix up older homes rather than have them succumb to the wreckling ball.

After living there most of her life, Nancy Twohill-Dixon died at the end of last year. The deed passed on to her husband.

Nearly 50 years after his wife’s family bought the home from the city, James Dixon now finds himself hustling to avoid losing it to the city’s aggressive tax-collection program.

Seeking to collect nearly $8,000 in back taxes, the city moved to take the home in January, a couple weeks after Dixon’s wife’s death. Now Dixon is working to avert the foreclosure auction, which is set for May 22 at noon.

The Court Street brownstone was one of 99 homes on which the city quietly initiated foreclosure in the past year, flouting a new city law that required it to notify nearby aldermen before moving to take people’s homes.

After it came out that the tax collector had ignored the law for a year, the city imposed a 30-day moratorium on city foreclosure actions on April 20.

Wooster Square Alderman Mike Smart (pictured) said the case is a prime example of a homeowner who could have been helped by the city’s tax abatement program, but fell through the cracks. City Hall spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga said the city is reviewing the case and has no comment yet.

As Dixon works out a deal to sell the home, Smart vowed to press City Hall to back down.

“I’m going to do everything I can to stop this,” Smart said this week, as pedestrians strolled through sunny Court Street.

As he spoke, Dixon stopped by to feed his cats. He said he moved out after his wife died.

His departure will mark the final chapter in four decades of family history on the block.

New Beginning

Nancy Twohill’s parents, Edward and Margaret Flynn Twohill, bought the house in the early 1960s from the City of New Haven. The Twohills were one of 15 families who moved onto Court Street at the time through a New Haven Redevelopment Agency experiment.

The street, lined with 1870s row houses, was heavily used by people walking between Wooster Square and downtown. By 1960, the strip became known as “skid row,” according to according to one account by Mary Hommann, the Wooster Square project director for the Redevelopment Agency. The three-story brick homes were being used as rooming houses for men who worked on the railroad. About 150 roomers would sleep there, and pedestrians walking through would encounter “dank air” and “groups of men collected on stoops, holding their pint bottles of muscatel.”

The houses themselves “had become very rundown,” recalled Bill Donohue, a former director of the city’s Redevelopment Agency. “They were not being kept up at all. It was the one block, right on the green, that could have easily slipped into a slum if there wasn’t an intervention there.”

The Redevelopment Agency saw a chance to remove the blight and “raise the spirits” of the neighborhood, Hommann wrote.

The intervention marked a new model for redevelopment that did not involve a wrecking ball.

It came at a time when other parts of New Haven became ground zero for a wave of federally funded urban renewal developments, where slums were bulldozed to make way for new apartments and stores. After Mayor Dick Lee plunged forward with urban renewal in 1954, the city’s renewal efforts would put New Haven on the national map as America’s “Model City.”

When the first urban renewal money rolled in under the Housing Act of 1949, it could be spent only on slum clearance. “You couldn’t spend a nickel on renovation,” recalled Donohue. By 1960, the feds expanded the scope of urban renewal and offered cities money to fix up slum housing without tearing it down.

New Haven was one of the first cities nationwide to try this new type of renewal project.

Using federal money, the city bought and rehabilitated most of the houses on that block of Court Street. In January 1960, the city sent letters to property owners on Court and Olive Streets. It advised them to convert rooming houses into rentals—or the Redevelopment Agency would acquire the buildings and do so itself. Four of the 19 rooming house owners chose to undertake the conversion on their own; the agency bought the rest by mid-1962 and started fixing them up. It steam-cleaned and painted the original brick facades, put in new plumbing and electricity, and installed flower boxes in the windows. It got rid of on-street parking and expanded the sidewalks.

The rehabbed buildings were resold as two-family homes. By 1964, they were filled with new families. The new homeowners would live in the top two floors of the house, and rent out the bottom two floors.

Edward Twohill, an Irish-American motorcycle cop, bought 12 Court St. There, he and his wife raised a daughter, Nancy, and two sons, Billy and Eddy.

The block became abuzz with young families, recalled Beverly Carbonella, who lived briefly on Court Street and then in the former Italian Embassy building on the corner of Court and Academy.

“There were so many children on the street,” she recalled. At the time her daughter was born on Court Street, there were 15 to 16 children on the same block, she said. “Everyone knew one another. We would all meet on the street every day and help babysit one another’s kids.”

The new experiment transformed Court Street at a time when “the whole of Wooster Square was considered to be a slum,” Carbonella said. “It was a very close-knit neighborhood. It was wonderful. I remain friends with the families who lived there,” she said.

Over the years, national observers would hold Court Street as a new kind of model for breathing new life into a blighted city block.

Twohill Tradition

Nancy Twohill would live there for the next four decades. She outlived her parents and her two brothers, who both died at an early age. The house passed through a family trust. It ended up in the name of Nancy Twohill-Dixon and her husband, James Dixon.

Over the years, as Wooster Square transformed into a stable middle-class neighborhood and home values shot through the roof, Twohill-Dixon and her husband would struggle to pay their taxes. In December 2008, faced with a city foreclosure action, they applied for a tax abatement program that gives relief to low-income homeowners. They qualified for the program, but withdrew the application when a familial angel stepped in and paid the tax bill.

On Dec. 28, 2009, Nancy Twohill-Dixon died of liver cancer at age 47. With no children, nieces or nephews, she was the last of the Twohill line. The deed passed to her husband’s name.

A few weeks later, the city again foreclosed on the home to recoup a tax bill of $7,972.14. Dixon never entered an appearance in court. In his absence, the city moved forward with foreclosure, and the bill grew. The bill gained $715 in interest. The city-hired lawyer, Edward Jacobs of Jacobs & Rozich, charged $1,750 in attorney’s fees for nine hours of work. With the marshal fees, the total debt to the city grew to over $11,000.

A foreclosure date was set for May 22 at noon, and a big white foreclosure sign went up outside the home. The sign quickly created buzz among prospective home buyers; ears perked up at the chance for a discounted home on one of the city’s most coveted streets.

Today, the street retains its close-knit nature. Neighbors cook soup for each other every Sunday during the winter months. The block has no parking spots and, most of the time, no traffic. The corridor of carefully tended English gardens, with blooming trees above, draws a steady stream of admirers on lunch breaks.

Homes on that block have recently sold for over half a million dollars, neighbors said.

David Baker, the private attorney assigned by court to sell the property, said 12 Court is in good shape, one of the nicest he’s dealt with in his eight years selling homes through foreclosure. The home is divided into two apartments: A tenant lived on the first two floors, and the Twohill-Dixons lived above.

“Usually if I get properties, they’re dumps and they’re hovels,” he said. “Not so here. If you want to live near downtown New Haven, there’s pretty much no better place to live.”

Baker put up an ad calling attention to the prime location in historic Wooster Square. He said he got flooded with calls from prospective buyers.

“I have never spent so much time on the phone with interested people,” he said. The home was appraised at $350,000, but neighbors reckoned it could easily be sold for more.

As of Friday morning, the foreclosure sale was still set for May 22. The bold-lettered foreclosure sign still sat outside the home. Baker said Dixon has retained a lawyer and has worked out a deal to sell the home that would clear him of debt.

“It looks like this one is not going to sale,” he said, but the sale still needs to be entered into court and approved by a judge.

Dixon stopped by the house Friday afternoon holding three cans of kitty food. He said he comes by once a week to collect a few things and feed his pets. He said he doesn’t like to be in the home anymore after his wife died.

“It’s too big in there,” he said.

He ran into Alderman Smart, who handed him a card and offered to help him. Smart said he plans to urge the city tax collector to avert the scheduled foreclosure.

“The man lost his wife—that’s bad enough,” Smart said. “I really want to stop this.”

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Comments

posted by: JB on May 11, 2010  8:07am

If I understood it correctly, the house (located on a very nice street) is owned without a mortgage and the only financial responsibilities are the taxes and ins?  The owner in question is likely to be in their 40s or 50s?

The city should have followed the 30-day rule, but I don’t think there’s any evidence that 30 more days would have changed the situation.

What’s up with feeding his cats only once a week, by the way?  I understand grief, but there’s no need to be cruel to the pets who depend on you.

posted by: Anon on May 11, 2010  8:25am

This case being the exception to most in the city, but if you can’t pay your taxes how in the hell are you going to be able to pay your mortgage?

posted by: robn on May 11, 2010  8:52am

I think that this is a nice recollection of the court street story but what about the kernel? Why was a couple with presumably complete home ownership, well under retirement age, not able to pay their taxes?

posted by: One opinion on May 11, 2010  10:14am

I understand that Mike Smart needs to get some positive press, but this is ridiculous.  I get that the Board of Aldermen wants to make a point that they need to be consulted, but this shouldn’t be stopped- the city needs to be able to collect its taxes.  Smart has a populist little issue to keep talking about, but the reality is that he is killing the city’s ability to function - why pay your taxes on time this year?  Your alderman will be able to negotiate your payment for you?  This is bad publicpolicy.

posted by: Morris Cove Mom on May 11, 2010  10:16am

Mr. Dixon may not have been able to pay his city taxes because he was caring for his sick wife, and paying medical bills, which are out of control in this country.

It does seem odd, and obvious at least to me, that he is leaving the cats in there so that they defecate in and destroy the house.  Almost everyone whose house is in foreclosure tries to ruin it so that it doesn’t sell, out of spite.

I feel for him.  He’s recently widowed and foreclosed upon.  But there has got to be another way.

posted by: JB on May 11, 2010  10:21am

I’m still amazed.  Where is this guy going to live that will be less than 8k a year (renting or owning)?

That house has two apartments.  Rent them both out if you don’t want to live there.  A nice place on Court must be- $1,200 and up?

posted by: Pedro on May 11, 2010  11:13am

Yeah, seriously, I’ve got a little more to say, but for now, I am worried about those cats! If this article is accurate, and he’s only feeding his cats 3 tins of cat food a week, that’s bordering on possible cruelty.
Does anyone know what the mechanism of having animal control, or perhaps contacting someone with the Greater New Haven Cat Project to try to intercede and find an emergency home for these cats?
He might even appreciate not having to care for them, since it seems that he might be faltering under all of this pressure!

posted by: robn on May 11, 2010  11:30am

MCM,

I think you’ve hit on it that theres more story to be told. Medical costs are supposedly the cause of 50% of personal bankruptcies.

posted by: viewfromabroad on May 11, 2010  12:01pm

Really?  All you got out of this article is that he only feeds his cats once a week?

posted by: Pedro Soto on May 11, 2010  12:46pm

No, as I clearly wrote, I had more to say, but I am I more alarmed that this guy is potentially committing animal cruelty given his situation.

Overall this seems like just a really terrible situation where these folks inherited a house that was likely a challenge to own and keep up with taxes and maintenance, and then likely either overextended themselves via excessive debt, or fell into that debt with the wife’s medical expenses.

They inexplicably declined to apply for the tax abatements (even if they had a familial angel, they still likely should have just gone through the program and saved the money), and things look like downhill from there.

I’m sure as in any case there’s more to this sad story than is simply being reported here. It doesn’t appear that this was a family of means, and rapidly increasing costs of living on Court quickly overtook them.

posted by: Doyens on May 11, 2010  1:08pm

You read this whole article and all you get out of it is a story about his cats and then you actually take the time to also impugn is character? That he’s intentionally destroying his house despite what the attorney said? ...

Clearly this family had problems, a serious illness and death and most likely all kinds of other issues that accompany these situations, none of which any of you know anything about.

To keep a clear perspective too, since 2000, the property taxes on this house have more than doubled - they used to be $3,686 and now they’re $8,000.

Within days of his wife’s death, the city is foreclosing and running his bill up by thousands more. That’s rich.

You know why the city needs so much money? Because it launches programs with grants and no plan or ability to pay for it long term; it builds schools it can’t afford; it gives perks, benefits and salaries that are rich by anybody’s standards and has a gross appetite for spending that is unsustainable in either the long or short term.

It employs more cops and other city employees who don’t even live here than we need and is a hotbed for drop-outs and poor school performance that has been going on unabated for decades while while remaining on an endless crusade for more money from the taxpayers, the state, the feds or anybody else dumb enough to listen to this incessant whining. In fact, the schools needed more money to sustain poor performance before reform, and now they need more money to fix their poor outcomes. Because of that lousy education, the rest of the city needs more money because it has grown its underclass instead of its middle class.

At some point, it would be nice if some of you people actually thought about this stuff and the back story associated with it. Instead, you’re consumed with cats and cat shxt.

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on May 11, 2010  1:20pm

Anybody interested in reading one of my somewhat article-related rants can download a word document at this link
http://www.mediafire.com/?tnzmnwztmgm
Sorry for the pop-ups. I was about to post it, but realized it was really long, so yeah…

A huge problem here is that what was done in terms of rehabilitation in neighborhoods in the 60s is now done mostly be non-profits that have limited resources and ability to fix up every house in a short time. What was done on Court Street in the 60s was great and unfortunately, it has lead to somewhat inflated housing prices. This can be addresses by “balancing” the cities perception of value in neighborhoods by citizens acting independently from government policy to improve neighborhoods through personal investment. Perhaps this won’t help this family in the article, but there are plenty of others feeling too tight a pinch because of higher-than-reality property and housing prices.

posted by: JB on May 11, 2010  1:52pm

To keep a clear perspective too, since 2000, the property taxes on this house have more than doubled - they used to be $3,686 and now they’re $8,000.

Within days of his wife’s death, the city is foreclosing and running his bill up by thousands more. That’s rich.

^^yes, this is true, but it’s also true that the owner failed to show up at the hearing to explain his circumstances.  Without his presence, the foreclosure goes forward- simple as that. 

Lots of common sense missing all the way round.  Prior to missing the foreclosure meeting, there’s the missed opportunity to enter the low-income tax program- that’s a biggie. 

Yes, the city needs to cut down its budget and let go of deadwood employees and programs and reduce the tax burden on homeowners.  That doesn’t change the fact that this homeowner is an adult (with difficult circumstances, definitely) who needed to/needs to jump on opportunities presented.

The abuse of his cats is just one more weird item.  Frankly, I’m hoping he’s reading this forum and will do something about it.

posted by: Townie on May 11, 2010  2:09pm

They should abolish property taxes and just have each resident pay a flat tax. Anyone that is over 18 could pay $500 per year, regardless of home/property ownership. Business and industry can have another flat tax. Property taxes are unconstitutional and we should work quickly to abolish them.

posted by: FormerSquare on May 11, 2010  2:51pm

People are leaving this nice street in droves. Drive around…lots of houses/condos on the market. Many without any action….Italian consulate or not.  Crime is at an all time high, muggings weekly, astronomic taxes, a shooting in the Square, parking problems, house/car break-ins…and the mega building around the corner going up is the icing on the cake. Who is moving in there I would like to ask the developer? What is that building going to do to the markets in Wooster Square? This is not your grandmother’s Wooster Square. Glad we moved to higher ground…

posted by: pissedinthesquare on May 11, 2010  3:09pm

Don’t tell me the alders didn’t know about this….Here is the minutes from the meeting! man this pisses me off! google is a great friend.


http://legsvcs.cityofnewhaven.com/meetings/20095/1032_M_Tax_Abatement_Committee_09-05-06_Committee_Meeting_Minutes.pdf

posted by: CedarBillResident on May 11, 2010  4:09pm

Ok so what exactly is Alderman Smart’s answer to this problem of foreclosures which plagues us not just here but all across America? 

How is Mike Smart going to save us?  Mike are you going to pay for my taxes?

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on May 11, 2010  4:10pm

FormerSquare,
“Crime is at an all time high”
Crime is at about a 40 year low. Crime peaked in the early 90s (1991-1992) with 21,000 serious incidents a year. Today we average about 8500 serious incidents a year.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs155.snc1/5780_1127779389776_1085910074_30334992_5785016_n.jpg
“The shooting” was also in self defense and was inflicted on a criminal, not a citizen (whether or not it was deserved or ideally handled is another discussion).
While I would argue that crime is too high, property taxes are unfair, and 360 State was misguided, it is important that we do not exaggerate or make stuff up, because it leads to a hopeless atmosphere where people perceive solutions as being impossible to successfully implement.

posted by: Threefifths on May 11, 2010  5:53pm

New Haven needs a Property tax system like new york and other states have .Check this out. Spike lee is selling his house for $4,200,000 yet he pays Monthly Taxes of $1,532. which comes to 18,384 a year.

$4,200,000
3 Bedrooms
2 Full Bathrooms
5,700 Sq. Ft.
Multi Family Townhouse
Floors: 3
Built: 1930

http://realestate.nytimes.com/sales/detail/253-NS100411140/124-Dekalb-Ave-Brooklyn-NY-11217

You have people in westville who have houses that cost less than spike lee townhouse and the pay over 20,000 a year in
Property tax’s.


Here is another house. It cost $599,000 and the Taxes are $1,673 (annual) 


http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&&ListingID;=1966026

So what even system they have in states that do Property tax like this we need to get that system here.

posted by: robn on May 11, 2010  6:01pm

I agree with Jonathan. New Haven (like many many other places) needs to reign in spending for a few years but in general, its a much nicer place to live in than it was in the late 80s. I also agree with other NHI commenters that the property taxes on this property, however inflated during the last reval, are far less than the $1020 median gross rent in New Haven. So what happened? Is a bored NHI writer with a broken ankle staring out his Wooster Square rear window looking for a story?

posted by: Hood Rebel on May 11, 2010  11:35pm

Stop being so judgmental. Obviously you don’t know what really is going on with this dude. Likely the man needs some social services, grief counseling and financial advice on how he can get back on this feet after dealing with the long painful illness and death of his wife.

Dealing with cancer that has metastasized to the liver is nothing but hell for the cancer patient and surviving family.  Who can imagine how long this man and his wife has dealt with this unimaginable tragic ordeal; not to mention the associated financial crisis.

Kicking him in the teeth with a foreclosure action when he is obviously down, is just flat wrong. The alderman is indeed doing right thing by being trying to help.

We are all struggling during this difficult economic time. But no need for folks in this community to be THIS cold!! How about adopting the cats, sending a condolence message and wishing the man some peace and happiness.

posted by: robn on May 12, 2010  8:25am

HOODREBEL,

Not kicking the fellow in the teeth but kindof nudging the writer since the the story is vague. Foreclosure is such a relevant issue to eveyone today I think readers want to know what happened. Maybe what you said is correct (crushing medical bills) but thats not written in the story.

posted by: Family Friend of the Twohills on May 16, 2010  8:56pm

I am sickened by this article.

posted by: Frank Poopypants on May 19, 2010  9:53am

One man’s loss is another man’s gain.

I bet his parents got the place at a bargain price in the 60’s.  It served them well over the years.  The neighborhood has gone up in value since then which only increases the value of his property.

If he can’t afford it now, he should move out.

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