news-record.com

GREENSBORO - Since Greensboro launched a program to root out its slums in 2004, the number of substandard homes has dropped dramatically, from 1,313 to 374 as of June 30.

City officials and housing advocates call the program a success. Inspectors have certified nearly 30,000 rentals - a process meant to guarantee quality - and fewer residents complain about bad housing.

Come January, inspectors will have more ammunition. The city can fine property owners $200 for renting an apartment or house without a certificate.

"Now people know we are going to get to their property one way or another," said Lori Loosemore, Greensboro's local ordinance enforcement supervisor. "People know it's not likely to slip through the cracks like it did in the past."

But the inspections program can't take all the credit for the impressive results. Favorable market conditions and a new, tough stance by the Greensboro Minimum Housing Standards Commission also spurred change.

And going forward, Greensboro still faces its share of challenges. How, for example, will the city find uncooperative landlords and enforce the new fines?

* * *

Sweat glistened on city inspector Larry Roberts' forehead as he posted a neon "condemned" sign to the front of a tattered, white duplex on Cranbrook Street off Merritt Drive. Weeds grew 2 feet high in the front yard. Windows were busted out. Roberts ordered the building boarded up because open and vacant properties can be a safety concern.

"It could be a quick fix," he said, "if they took the time to fix it."

A woman walked by and asked if the property was available for rent. Could be, but vandals ripped open walls and pulled out pipes under the bathroom and kitchen sinks.

"They done stole that stuff to sell it," she said matter-of-factly. "That's sad."

Here's another unit that the city can check off its long list of inspections.

* * *

The Greensboro City Council adopted the modern International Property Maintenance Code and the rental inspection program in 2003 despite protest from property owners.

City officials said they needed a proactive approach to find bad housing. Previously, substandard housing cases started as complaints. But not all tenants knew to complain or felt comfortable doing so.

"Sometimes people are scared to call because they don't know their legal rights," Loosemore said.

City inspectors planned to clean up the worst of the rotting, run-down homes and apartments by inspecting an estimated 32,000 rental units.

But they faced problems from the beginning, battling with landlords who said the inspections were a waste of resources and a burden to good property owners.

"We do not believe that devoting the city's scarce resources to walk thousands of high-quality communities did a thing for the bad ones," said Clarke Martin, spokesman for the Triad Apartment Association.

Some landlords and tenants refused to participate.

Inspectors weren't able to get to all the rentals in 31/2 years, as planned. The city extended the deadline to December.

* * *

Despite those hurdles, there have been successes.

Complaints from residents and public service agencies have steadily decreased, from 1,679 five years ago to 878 last year, said Dan Reynolds, Greensboro code enforcement manager. The complaints that do come in are less severe in nature.

And fewer Greensboro homes have code violations.

In June 2003, 1,247 homes earned code violations, including 940 rentals and condemned units, said Beth McKee-Huger, executive director of the Greensboro Housing Coalition. By May 2008, that number dropped to 766 homes in violation, including 410 rentals.

"Those places are making a dramatic turnaround," she said. "People who have not responded to any of the previous code enforcements are fixing things."

* * *

Less than a year ago, the housing coalition stopped at Brookfield Court apartment complex on West Market Street on its annual bus tour of the city slums.

Residents lived in apartments with leaks, said Monica Aune, who began managing the property last year. Dozens of missing or broken stairs led to the two-story apartments.

"We had 204 units, 50-something violations and six condemned units," Aune said.

"I thought the best thing to do was to just back up the bulldozer," inspector Roberts said.

Aune launched a $3 million renovation after a Wisconsin realty company purchased the complex.

Rehabbed units now feature new appliances and sinks, as well as fresh paint and carpet. The broken steps and leaking ceilings have been replaced.

These days, the complex goes by a much snazzier name: Park Place. The apartments cost $739 a month, $240 more than before the renovations.

And Aune has a stack of rental certificates for apartments that are ready for new tenants.

* * *

Aune met the city inspector's demands. But that pressure wasn't the only factor in the turnaround.

The new owner saw Brookfield Court as an investment opportunity and had the money to fix it up.

Landlords will renovate if the market is right and it makes good business sense, property owners said.

"It has to do with whether your neighborhood is still a good prime neighborhood, a safe place to live," said Mark Austin of Fidelity Realty.

Tough enforcement by the city's Minimum Housing Standards Commission also played a part in Greensboro's recent housing changes.

The commission reviews housing cases and can order unresponsive property owners to repair or demolish within 90 days.

The commission's workload increased steadily in the past four years, topping out at 84 cases last year. And it took on a new attitude during this time, opting to give property owners fewer second chances, Reynolds said.

"The housing commission just drew the line and said, 'That's it,'" he said.

* * *

Take Guerrant Street.

Large, open lots line both sides of the narrow, dead-end road. Worn paths, the remains of driveways, are all that's left of what neighbor Donna Chambliss called "the hole."

Chambliss lives in a tidy house a few doors down from the former location of nine squat, cinder block homes owned by Greensboro landlord Bill Agapion.

Inspectors unearthed a long list of code violations for the homes and duplexes, including animal infestations, rotting floors, unsafe wiring and broken windows.

"No human being wants to live like that," Chambliss said.

Agapion started fixing up the properties in 2006, more than a year after they were first condemned. But he didn't beat the wrecking ball.

After years of letting property owners skirt deadlines, the city wouldn't give Agapion any more time to renovate.

"They were determined to tear them down, and they did," said Agapion, who recently sued the city for loss of real estate.

Greensboro leaders call the demolitions a turning point in the city's five-year effort to clean up its rental market.

"The city did us a favor doing that," Chambliss said. "It took too long."

* * *

By January, all landlords will be required to have rental certificates. But the work isn't over for the city.

For one, not every landlord has complied. City officials estimate that 3,000 units still need inspections.

Those properties may be difficult to find because the city does not have an accurate or complete list of all rentals.

"We're now coming up on these people who didn't want us to find them," Loosemore said.

And it's still not clear how the city will find and fine landlords who rent property without a certificate.

Butch Simmons, the city's engineering and inspections director, would like to see the water department require tenants to show a rental certificate before the city turns on water to a property.

But water resources director Allan Williams said he is hesitant to add new requirements on water users or to give already burdened customer service reps more work.

Reynolds said the city may rely on resident complaints to find violators - a process that proved imperfect in the past.

And once the new year comes around, it remains unclear what will become of the inspections program.

The city could, under the existing ordinance, opt to automatically reissue certificates after five years if there are no complaints or violations.

Property owners favor that route. But that policy would create the same reactionary system that inspectors found ineffective in the past.

The rental inspection program is not perfect, McKee-Huger said. But it is making a dent in the worst housing.

"It had a long way to go," she said. "But without it we would not have the tools to even know how many places need repair."

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com.