ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997 TAG: 9702200020
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
ONE LEGACY of Goldie Christine Duncan and her four grandchildren, killed 13 months ago in a fire in a rented Southeast Roanoke house that lacked code-required firewalls and smoke detectors, is the city's fledgling rental-inspection program. Neighborhood activists had been pressing the city for such a program, now nearing completion of its initial phase, but progress had been slow until the tragedy gave the project a sense of urgency.
Human safety still tops the list of inspection aims. But two recent developments - a briefing to City Council this week on the status of the program, and unveiling of a draft redesign plan for downtown Roanoke - reinforce the point that there are other items as well on the list of aims.
A second aim, as city officials reminded council in the briefing, is encouraging preventive maintenance of older housing stock. Rental housing is particularly prone to inadequate maintenance and, eventually, demolition by neglect.
The first wave of inspections is concentrating on the approximately 315 rental units along Elm Avenue, near the northern edge of the Old Southwest historic district. Of the first 163 units to be addressed, slightly more than half either passed inspection or were exempted from inspection because they are part of large complexes where at least 10 other units had passed. Most of the failures were because of minor - and, presumably, easily correctable - violations.
But inspectors found several units in bad condition, including two so bad they were condemned as unfit for occupancy. Inspectors discovered at least four rooming houses previously thought to be either single-family dwellings or apartment houses. Finally, owners of 71 units apparently prefer a $75 mandatory inspection when an apartment becomes vacant; they have either refused or not responded to the offer of voluntary free inspections now. The condition of many of these units may well prove worse than the average.
Another aim of the expanded inspection program, besides protecting the health and safety of tenants, is to prevent the kinds of effects that substandard housing can have on a neighborhood. These include the potential to help breed crime, deter neighborhood revitalization and maintenance, and depress nearby property values.
In turn, the impact of crime and deterioration goes beyond the immediate neighborhood. This is made clear in "Outlook Roanoke," the downtown study prepared by Urban Design Associates for the city of Roanoke, Downtown Roanoke Inc. and the Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority.
The health of downtowns and the health of the neighborhoods surrounding them, the report notes, are increasingly recognized as interdependent. In Roanoke, the generally ill-defined borders between downtown and the neighborhoods tend to be the most rundown parts of each. One result: The "principal impression" for commuters and visitors of the gateways, including Elm Avenue, into downtown Roanoke is "deterioration and disinvestment."
The inner-city rental-inspection program is a tenant-protection measure, but it is also a piece in a much larger package of investments that Roanoke must make if it and its downtown are to thrive.
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