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ST. LOUIS — A city program that unilaterally repaired privately owned buildings and billed the owners for the work was shut down by Mayor Cara Spencer Monday following months of criticism from property owners and reports of self-dealing by a former building inspector assigned to the initiative.

The city’s private building stabilization program, quietly launched under former Mayor Tishaura O. Jones at the beginning of 2023, set aside some $13 million for the city’s building division to authorize repairs to privately owned buildings and then seek repayment from owners by placing liens on the property. As of last summer, some 50 buildings had been targeted by the program. 

While some neighborhood groups applauded the city taking a hard line against absentee landlords, several building owners say they were blindsided with huge repair bills for questionable work.

Then, an already controversial program was hit with allegations of corruption. Late last year, reports from and  (Channel 4) found a city inspector overseeing the program had been contracting repair work to construction companies tied to both his ex- and current wife. That building inspector, Banjo Popoola, resigned in the wake of the stories and the Jones administration said it had asked the FBI and state auditor’s office to investigate the building division.

The program, dubbed Stable Communities by the Jones administration, became a political talking point for Spencer as she hammered Jones on city operations during the mayoral campaign. And the new administration is familiar with the program’s specifics: Spencer’s new chief of staff, attorney led to the unraveling of Popoola’s dealings with the program.

Spencer late Monday said that given the “widespread and well-documented problems,� her administration “had no choice� but to end it. 

“This building stabilization program was well-intentioned but, unfortunately, very poorly executed,� Spencer said in a statement. “As we have seen in previous media coverage, the city has been billing property owners for work that wasn’t done and causing undue stress to communities already suffering from blight.�

Applauds the mayor

One of the owners swept up in the program, Fred Lewis, said he had previously talked to Hawes about the program’s issues, and he applauded Spencer’s quick action to shut it down.

“For Cara Spencer in the first 14 days of her administration to take on these corrupt issues and make them right, it’s a benefit,� Lewis said Tuesday. “This is somebody who’s doing the right thing not just for a select group of individuals but for the masses.�

Lewis, who owns the former J.C. Penney store on Martin Luther King Drive near the border with Wellston, last year caught a city contractor breaking into his building. Then, he faced bills for interior work an inspector could not have ascertained and on exterior windows that didn’t exist. And even though the city ultimately didn’t do any of the repairs, it still slapped a lien on Lewis’s property in July.

Lewis and others worried those liens were a backdoor way for the city to acquire their properties given that the cost of repairs often far exceeded the buildings’ value. While city officials insisted that wasn’t their goal, the economics made it almost inevitable.

One of the early properties included in the private stabilization pilot on North 20th Street is now one of the first to be headed to tax foreclosure. The repairs to the Hyde Park building cost $500,000, some 30 times the property’s estimated worth. A bidder willing to pay that at the May 12 tax auction is unlikely to emerge, and the structure will be transferred to the city’s land bank.  

But some of the other liens are already being lifted. On Monday, the city lifted the lien on Lewis’ building and those on six other structures the city had issued against property owners for stabilization work, according to property records. 

The mayor’s office said it was working with the City Counselor’s office to lift all remaining liens issued via the program. Around 40 properties have had special city tax liens from the program filed against them, according to property records.

Lewis, whose invoice for repairs from the city originated with an inspection from Popoola, said he wants to see more done to hold the former building inspector accountable.

“Where is Banjo,� Lewis said. 

‘Leaves a vacuum’

But some who work on vacancy issues in the city saw the need for a more muscular city program to hold absentee property owners accountable and actually complete needed stabilization work. Other city tools, such as the tax foreclosure process and private neighborhood lawsuits, can take years to work their way through the courts, leaving the properties in question to continue crumbling and harming the neighborhood. 

“It’s understandable given what we’ve learned about an individual bad actor in the program,� Nate Lindsey, who works on vacancy issues for Dutchtown Main Streets in South St. Louis, said of Spencer scrapping the initiative. “But it leaves a vacuum for handling negligent private ownership.�

While the program saddled some owners with bills they questioned, it also repaired structures that have long been in disrepair. The city repaired a building owned by Paul McKee's NorthSide Regeneration on North Market and another one of his properties on Blair Street faced a lien from the program. A long-vacant iconic building next to Fountain Park was also stabilized under the program.  

“They’re just going to end up getting that benefit of stabilization free from the city,� Lindsey said. 

On Friday, during a bus tour to show media various city-funded community development projects, the group drove past the former Northview Village Nursing Home along North Kingshighway.

Amid a dispute, its owners had abruptly shuttered the facility in late 2023, and the abandoned eight-story former Depaul Hospital that towers over the neighborhood was showing obvious signs of vandalism and squatters. 

Community Development Administration Director Nahuel Fefer, whose agency was hosting the tour, said the building may be a good candidate for the private stabilization program. That is, Fefer said Friday, if the program continued to exist.