Fund Gives Tenants Little Relief

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Distress Aid Fails to Reach Many Decayed Buildings

A multi-million dollar fund to repair buildings in bad condition has sometimes been tapped to pay for expansive repairs at single-family homes and units in small row houses.

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Weaver said DCRA made repairs only after he and others helped tenants paint the hallways. DCRA spent $3,200 to fix doors, but Weaver said the building still needs work.

"I had this idea that DCRA was going to come up, sort of the cavalry on the hill, riding in as a regulatory cowboy and doing a bunch of work in the building, then making NWJ foot the bill," Weaver said. "But it was very minimal stuff. And it took months."'

NWJ Vice President Eric Kretschman said the company is spending $500,000 to rehabilitate the complex. NWJ has worked hard to maintain the complex, he said, but some damage was caused by problem tenants. He added that DCRA's repairs were overpriced and that NWJ was willing to do the work itself.

"It took them three days to do it," Kretschman said. "It should have taken 45 minutes."

DCRA denied that the repairs were overpriced.

Although apartment complexes drew little attention, some single-family homes received extensive repairs, usually triggered by complaints from neighbors about unsafe or unsanitary conditions.

The house on Decatur Street NW, assessed at $907,000, received $85,500 from the DCRA fund in 2004. Property records show that the home is owned by the late Eleanor G. Lee. Family members occupy it, one relative said. Another relative said she did not know why the city made repairs. The money has not been repaid.

In 2005, DCRA spent $9,000 on a house on 16th Street NW valued at $1 million and owned by professor Amy Mazur and her physician husband, Joseph Liberman. Liberman said he and his wife rent out the house and were unaware of complaints about its condition. He said they were willing to fix the problems themselves. They repaid the money.

Almost $50,000 went to a house on 19th Street NW, assessed at $618,000 and co-owned by physician David Newsome. Newsome, who has not repaid the city, did not return calls seeking comment.

City money also went to property owners with extensive real estate holdings, including Montgomery County physician Lisa Godette. In late 2004 and early 2005, DCRA spent $23,000 making repairs and removing trash at a property on G Street NE, one of six properties she owned at the time. Godette repaid the money with interest in November 2005. That month, she sold the property for $460,000, almost seven times what she paid for it in 2002.

On 11th Street NW, DCRA spent $33,000 last year fixing the gutters, bricks and roof of a property owned by Carlos Miranda. Records show the Montgomery County resident owns six other properties, including a house in Potomac that he bought in 2004 for $1 million. Miranda repaid the city with interest in January.

Godette and Miranda could not be reached for comment.