One of the sad facts of life is that it often takes a tragedy to spur action. That’s what happened last year after the death of 22-year-old Binland Lee.
The Boston University student was living in an overcrowded Allston home that caught fire and had only one working exit. Lee’s death brought new attention to college students who live off campus, many of them in substandard and unsafe apartments according to a recent Boston Globe investigation.
Now, just three weeks before thousands college students return, the city says it's already cracking down on problem properties.
From the sidewalk, 133 Saint Alphonsus Street in Mission Hill seems fine. It’s a multi-unit rental with a decent lawn and a few nicks that come with any building of age.
But inside, Deborah DiGirolamo starts going through her checklist. She’s a housing inspector for the city of Boston, looking at everything from broken windows to carbon monoxide detectors.
She ticks off her list: "Insufficient carbon monoxide— I already wrote that he needs to install one down this end."
And sometimes exposed wires, like those dangling in a half-renovated bathroom that tenant Lou Cassano shows DiGirolamo. Right now, the walls are open and the floor is covered with dust and debris.
"When did they start all this?" DiGirolamo asked him.
"June 9," Cassano replied.
"June 9? This is what they've done and how they left it?"
"Yep. The original estimate for the construction was to be three to four days, and now we're on day 57."
But that’s just the latest for Cassano and his three roommates, all Northeastern students who are paying $3,300 a month for their four-bedroom apartment. He says their woes started the day they moved in last September.
"Doors that did not lock or close, window cages which were cut open, we had radiators which were clogged with debris, we had paint all over the walls, the floors were a shamble," Cassano said.
Cassano and his roommates sent detailed notes and pictures to the property management company, but saw little action.
"Except in instances where it’s of an absolute necessity that it has to be fixed because it’s a direct safety violation, they have not taken action on any maintenance concerns or other concerns with the apartment," he said.
Ultimately, Cassano complained to the city, prompting the visit from the city inspector. The property management company that oversees Cassano’s building declined to comment, but William Christopher, who runs the city’s inspectional services department, says other landlords can expect similar scrutiny.
"We plan to go out to all of these apartments before the students move back to make sure that these apartments are up to par, so that when students come to our city, their educational experience is about the education — it’s not about their living environment," Christopher said.
In June, over 20 colleges in Boston agreed to give the city the addresses of students like Cassano who live off campus. Christopher says the new address database will help inspectors target overcrowding and other issues.
"If there’s a history of the property having violations or issues — other social issues — that raises it up on the list so that we’ll go out and make sure that what we assume is correct," he said.
ISD has also hired more inspectors after the city adopted a new rental inspection law. But Christopher says even as his department is on track to inspect 30,000 properties this year, dealing with problem landlords takes time.
"It takes awhile to do it because of the legal system," he said. "The judges and the courts are trying to work with us, but they’re held to statutory requirements as well."
It was in April of last year that Boston University senior Binland Lee was killed in a fire at 87 Linden Street in Allston. Lee was among over a dozen people living in the two-family home. Valerie Frias of the Allston Brighton Community Development Corp. believes the changes now in place might have saved Lee’s life.
"Had the database been in place at that point, the city would have known that there were 19 people living there, and that it was likely an unsafe building for those students and could have actually done an inspection at that point," she said.
Students make up a significant number of the residents in Allston and Brighton. It’s one reason why Frias takes a daily walk to look out for suspect properties. Just around the corner from her office, she points to the back of a two-family house with what she believes is an illegal roof deck.
"This building has had violations for occupancy going back to the '70s," she said. "You had illegal apartments in the basements, and overcrowding, and they had a couple court cases filed over the years."
On this afternoon, part of Frias' walk also includes a visit to 87 Linden. More than a year later, it still sits, charred black and boarded up, with overgrown weeds. The house number is just barely visible out front. On a utility pole. someone has scrawled “RIP Binland” in chalk. As she speaks, Frias gestures up to where Lee’s bedroom once was.
"I was here the morning it happened," she said. "I came over and could see, up in that dormer, her corkboard. She was about to graduate. It was her corkboard with work, notes of what she had to do — probably for her classes left. It was a tiny little living space. It was not even a living space. It was something that was carved out as a living space.
Cassano says such tragedies make him feel fortunate he and his roommates are moving out of their apartment at month’s end — but not before taking their current landlord to court.
Boston City Councillor Josh Zakim and Small Property Owners Association Executive Director Skip Schloming discuss whether the city’s new crackdown on landlords is working on Greater Boston.
