The Washington City Paper published a story today finding that in August 2023, the owners of 3003 Van Ness owed the city more than $1.2 million in unpaid fines for housing code violations. This affirms a previous report by the tenant association, which also included a detailed list of those fines.
The WCP story reports that more than $1 million in fines had been wiped away in recent months, despite ongoing housing code violations at 3003 Van Ness.
A recent informal inspection by the tenant association found that extensive problems persisted even after the Department of Buildings conducted inspections of 3003 Van Ness for more than a year.
Many apartment doors lack self-closing, fire-safety mechanisms even after two arson attempts at 3003 Van Ness.
The Department of Buildings plans to continue inspections of 3003 Van Ness this month.
Data source: DC Department of Buildings
““The District’s decision to forgive the property’s fines only underscore that the current system does not incentivize landlords to provide timely responses to safety concerns. The fact that DOB forgives fines—even more than $1 million of them—means that a landlord can ignore serious housing code violations for a long time. The company does not fear the Department of Buildings, so it does not repair serious problems that put their residents at risk.””