Over the past month, Georgetown administrators and the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs have come together in an unprecedented partnership to aid students who rent privately- owned properties in the neighborhoods surrounding the University.
The two sides first met about a month and a half ago in an effort to identify unlicensed off-campus houses and to deliberate ways to ensure that off-campus housing units frequently rented by students are properly licensed and inspected to comply with D.C. building and safety codes.
Georgetown is the first District university to share information on student housing issues with DCRA.
“It’s the first time we’re doing this with any of the universities in D.C., and we’re looking forward to seeing how this pilot initiative works out and whether we can replicate this with some other universities in town,” Helder Gil, DCRA’s Legislative Affairs Specialist said.
The partnership with DCRA is a part of a University initiative that encourages landlords to work toward high quality of living conditions in the neighborhood. The University will contact landlords to sign a pledge that publicly demonstrates their commitment to “maintaining the quality of life in our community and to your neighbors publicly.”
According to Stacy Kerr, Georgetown’s vice president of communications, the names of the landlords who sign the pledge will be placed on a rolling list featured on University websites, including the Off-Campus Housing website. Kerr said that all landlords are encouraged to sign the pledge, and the University will promote everyone who does in return.
Along with the new list of recommendable landlords, the University will continue to update its “list of properties of concern.” Landlords will receive a written notification when a complaint of an issue that may undermine student safety and living conditions is deemed credible by the university.
When three complaints accrue over a two-year period, the university will add the residence to the list. The Off-Campus Student Life website states that possible issues that may lead to warning include “poor property or lawn maintenance, trash and/or recycling disposal violations, noise issues, and other conduct matters.”
Once placed on the list, the residence will remain on the list of properties of concern for a full calendar year. It will only be removed if no further reasonable complaints are reported during that period. The list will also be on Off-Campus Student Life and Off-Campus Housing Resources websites for students to access.
According to Gil, the pledge system is a University initiative, separate and apart from DCRA. DCRA’s role in this particular arrangement is to ensure that any housing unit is properly licensed and is in compliance with various building and safety requirements. This new landlord pledge system will help protect students from living in an environment that poses a threat to them.
“I think [the pledging system] is a positive step to ensure student safety,” Gil said. “It should help deal with issues with students living overcrowded or in basement units that don’t have the necessary fire escapes, the wiring that may not be fully legal, all sorts of things.”
Gil referenced a fire that occurred in 2004 at a townhouse on Prospect Street that resulted in the death of Daniel Rigby (MSB’05). The townhouse had several fire code violations.
“There are other instances throughout the city of people living in housing conditions that are substandard,” he said. The University is hopeful about the new faculty of resources this collaboration with DCRA will bring to students.
“Our paramount concern for our students is home safety, and Off-Campus Student Life collaborates with DCRA in order to ensure that students know about this very important resource,” Anne Koester, director of Off Campus Student Life, wrote in an email.
Koester encouraged students to take full advantage of the information provided to them by confirming that their landlords are in possession of a Basic Business License and to demand home inspection when any concern arises.
A big issue is that landloards with the agreement of the tenants place more than the DC required maximum of six unrelated adults in a residence. In order for DCRA to inspect and verify that no city law and or DCRA regulation has been violated a complaint by one of the tenants must be received by DCRA. Thus no complaint no violation. GU under the advice of its attorneys refuses to answer questions about this issue to neighbors of the potential offending house under the theory of privacy.