South Bend Council Candidate Faces Slumlord Accusations By Opponent

An independent member of the South Bend Common Council, Henry Davis, Jr., has accused his Democratic opponent, Regina Williams-Preston, of being a slumlord because of tens of thousands of dollars she and her husband owe in unpaid taxes and code enforcement fines on ten residential properties. The South Bend Tribune confirmed Williams-Preston owes over $77,000 on the properties, including $13,000 in unpaid property taxes and $64,000 in fees and penalties for code enforcement issues.

Williams-Preston says she and her husband bought the properties with the intention of fixing them up, but had to abandon those plans after her husband fell ill. She also described her situation as selective use of code enforcement to force gentrification. “If the goal is to get a person to fix up their home, is the right process to achieve that goal fining them exorbitant fines rather than providing them alternatives and connecting them with resources?” she said. Several of the homes have subsequently been demolished according to The Tribune.

Williams-Preston's opponent, who had been elected as a Democrat, chose to run for re-election as an independent. Davis has called her candidacy a "hoax" on South Bend's residents and referred to her as a slumlord. Davis is being sued by four South Bend police officers after he accused them of being racists after recordings of their conversations on city phone lines were improperly recorded and made public. Davis, in turn, is suing the city for failing to defend him against the police officers' lawsuit. A recent Court of Appeals' decision determined Davis' action were taken outside the scope of his role as a city council member.