ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 20, 1995                   TAG: 9503220037
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

INNER-CITY ROANOKE

BY MANY measures, Roanoke has plenty of affordable housing. Less plentiful is housing that meets basic maintenance standards for human occupancy.

Such standards exist in the law. But for several reasons, enforcement is spotty. Usually, inspections are made only in response to serious complaints received. Many violations, including major ones, are never reported.

Fortunately, the city is working on ways to improve the situation.

Part one would be adoption of a certificate-of-compliance requirement for inner-city rental property, a local option authorized by the 1994 General Assembly and already in place in a number of Virginia cities including Lynchburg, Charlottesville and Virginia Beach. Before a vacant residential rental unit could be legally rented, a certificate of compliance with the maintenance code would be required. The certificates would be valid for a specified period, to avoid the unnecessary cost of continual reinspections of properties with frequent tenant turnover.

The certificate procedure would provide city inspectors access to rental properties that now can be denied them without probable cause to suspect violations. Responsible landlords are apt to welcome the requirement, as are neighbors concerned about the deterioration of property near theirs. Slumlords may find it a hassle.

But even if City Council enacts the initiative, perhaps as early as this summer, it won't work well without part two: hiring more inspectors of existing housing. Roanoke doesn't need the 30 or so inspectors to be found in, say, Norfolk; Roanoke does need more than the two it currently has.

A proposed certificate-of-compliance ordinance for inner-city rental property should be perfected for submission to City Council. Money for more building inspectors should be included in the city manager's proposed budget for submission to council. Council should then approve both. 


 by CNB