RICHMOND, Va. -- Kristen Garland recalled dangerous and unsanitary conditions from her time living at the Grace Place Apartments in Richmond, as she dealt with a broken toilet, maggots in the sink, mold everywhere, and holes in the walls.
"The wall, you can put your hand in, and you can crumble it literally in your hand," Garland said. "I feel like it was unsafe for all of us."
Garland said the mold got so out of control that it affected her health. After she began coughing up blood, she went to a hospital to find out she was suffering from mold exposure.
To try and get help, she submitted multiple maintenance requests to management, but she said they were not fulfilled.
“And they were always, ‘Oh, we're going to come out there, we're going to come out there,’ but nobody ever did," Garland said. "I even had to take my own money to put into that apartment when things were just not going right, which I felt like it was kind of unfair.”
Garland said she moved into her unit in October 2021. That same month, Garland and her neighbors were given just hours' notice to evacuate due to the building failing inspection. She moved in with her grandmother for the time being, and eventually returned to Grace Place when she was cleared to do so.
Then in December 2022, the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority took control of Grace Place, calling it hazardous. Days after that announcement, residents were again evacuated after a water pipe burst.
Since then, Garland said the city has helped relocate her to other housing.
"We're feeling sad, and we're doubting ourselves to even go anywhere else," she said. "Because the reality is that put me to be fearful to go anywhere else."
It's stories like Garland's that fueled Richmond City Council to move the city administration to propose a framework for a new program that would essentially require landlords to pass building inspections in order to do business.
The council approved a resolution, spearheaded by 5th District Representative Stephanie Lynch, earlier this week.
“No matter where you live and how much you pay for your rent, you deserve to live in a quality, healthy, safe space," Lynch said. "The City of Richmond has had some fairly egregious situations in the past decade that involve property owners who may not be maintaining and properly managing their multifamily units, mobile park homes, and in some cases, single room occupancy units."
Through a rental inspection program, the city would draw lines establishing rental inspection districts in certain areas. The state code that allows localities to establish these programs states the districts must meet three criteria:
- There's a need to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of the residents within the units
- Units within the districts are blighted or deteriorating
- Inspections are necessary to ensure units maintain safe, decent, and sanitary living conditions
“If you have a property and you're collecting rent, you have a responsibility to deliver a safe and clean product," said Council President Mike Jones. "When you pay your rent, you should expect to have the building meeting code, all the appliances working, no rodent infestation."
Jones and Lynch said they're aiming to target specific areas where they receive the most complaints from tenants. The city administration will be tasked with analyzing and defining those districts, but councilors said they'll likely include low-income communities, mobile home parks, and public housing neighborhoods.
“You just can't go citywide, as much as I would like to, so you have to figure out where you want to focus, where you want to target," Jones said.
Lynch said inspections would likely be conducted annually by city workers with code enforcement. While staffing needs and funding are still being studied, Lynch said code enforcement has historically been an understaffed program, but she'd like to see more positions added to the planning department.
Once units are found to be in compliance, she said it may be several more years until the city reinspects them.
"Who we're really trying to help here are Richmonders, particularly vulnerable Richmonders, seniors, underserved communities, that may not know how to navigate or may be intimidated to navigate the bureaucratic system of going through code enforcement," Lynch said.
Patrick McCloud, CEO of the Virginia Apartment Management Association, said the organization wants to caution Richmond not to paint a "broad brush" with its district lines because the state code was "not intended to be a vehicle for simply inspecting all rental housing."
He said the city should be intentional in its efforts to target dilapidated or blighted housing. He said lumping good property owners in with bad property owners might lead to regulatory burdens that drive up the cost of housing.
Meanwhile, Garland said she encourages city leaders to hold landlords accountable.
“I feel y’all need to because then that way, y'all know if they're there, if they're not there, what they're doing and what they ain't doing," Garland said. "Because quite naturally, that needs to be done.”
The city has until June 30 to present a proposal to the city council.
