ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040071
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: THOMAS C. MacMICHAEL
I APPLAUD Roanoke city's recent actions in looking further into what can be done following the house fire that took the lives of four children and their grandmother in Southeast Roanoke.
I work in Southeast Roanoke at the Presbyterian Community Center - only two blocks from where the tragic fire occurred - and I am very familiar with the plight of families living in substandard housing in this area. We provide emergency financial assistance to families to prevent homelessness, and intervene when the termination of essential utilities is imminent. Very often, the families we serve live in housing with poor insulation and inefficient heating systems (among other inadequacies).
Absentee landlords, just like WTS of Virginia, Inc., and "Affordable Real Estate Services,'' purchase Southeast properties through foreclosure sales or tax sales for next to nothing. They then seek to turn a quick profit by converting a single-family dwelling into multifamily units with little regard for quality or standards. Usually these units rent from $150 to $350 per month.
Near-homeless families who are desperate for shelter of any kind are easy marks for these predators. Many of the fast-conversion properties are partitioned with no adjustment for air flow, heating or access. Inefficient electric-strip baseboard heating is often installed without regard for poorly sealed windows and doors or the lack of insulation. To supplement inadequate heating systems, individuals and parents purchase kerosene or electric space heaters they can move around to the cold spots.
In the case of the Leftwich family, they used an electrical extension cord that couldn't withstand the amount of electrical current that was being drawn. The usual result is that many low-income renters fall into financial crisis because they're suddenly faced with a $200 or $300 electric bill they didn't expect. The unusual, but all-too-frequent, result is that a house burns down.
Our center has limited funding for the avalanche of requests we receive every winter, and can usually pay only part of the bills we're presented. In 1994, we paid or helped to pay 1,070 electric bills. We raise additional funds by contacting partner churches and other relief agencies that may also contribute a portion. We see dozens of these cases every month. Most involve young families with children. Each may be another tragedy waiting to happen.
The city's current inspection policy is limited to those who request inspections, including renters with specific safety concerns. The problem, as our experience reveals, is that most families are in no position to complain about the condition of their house or apartment. Their main fear is that they'll be booted, and will have no place to stay.
During the past year, there was much wrangling about whether to enact a new "certificate of occupancy" policy in the city. As I understand it, this provision would require a property's inspection each time it changes hands - either by sale or when there's a change in tenants. I support this initiative. It should be considered the cost of doing business.
Those who argue against this policy, which seem to be many of our local real-estate companies and businesses, say that it would "unnecessarily" increase their costs and have the effect of raising rental rates that low-income families pay, making housing less affordable. What this seems to imply is that a large percentage of rental property held by these businesses is, in fact, substandard, in spite of the laws and regulations currently on the books - and the principals involved know it. Costs for inspections alone cannot be so much as to significantly affect rental property's long-term rates. It must be the potential cost of upgrading rental property to meet current codes, including fire walls and smoke detectors, that threatens to cut into the profit margins.
We all pay huge sums of money to have lawyers and accountants "inspect" the paperwork for real-estate transactions. Maybe it's high time we pay some attention to the inspection of the objects of all that paperwork!
Thomas C. MacMichael is program developer of the Presbyterian Community Center in Roanoke.
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