Norwich — A stream of recent apartment condemnations since August has kept city building, housing, and health inspectors busy and Human Services staff scrambling to help find housing for dozens of displaced tenants.

Relocation liens placed by the city on the properties totaled nearly $150,000 in just the past two and a half months.

The situation has some city officials questioning whether the city should reinstate a mandatory rental inspection program, eliminated in 2004 for staffing and budget reasons. The program called for apartments to be inspected at least every five years and upon becoming vacant.

From late August through late October, inspectors have condemned apartment units in seven buildings for reasons ranging from lack of heat and hot water to unsafe wiring, structural decay or high levels of lead paint.

As of last week, Norwich Human Services staff was working with 21 households consisting of 43 adults and 20 children needing housing after condemnations. Some are staying with family temporarily, some are in homeless shelters, and some are moving into new apartments, according to a summary provided by Norwich Human Services. Notations on 10 households stated: “Still looking.”

Not included in that summary were the 10 adults displaced Aug. 20, when inspectors ordered an emergency condemnation of the 11-unit apartment house at 49-51 Sachem St. for dangerous structural failures.

In an effort to recover tenant relocation costs, the city has filed relocation liens that total $149,522 on 10 different properties from Aug. 27 to Oct. 25, including $48,024 against 49-51 Sachem St., owned by Sachem Street LLC of Old Lyme.

“It’s really overwhelming,” Norwich Human Services Director Lee Ann Gomes said, “and people are having a difficult time finding apartments.”

Gomes advocated a return of the rental inspection program. She said the inspections allowed city inspectors to discover minor issues that could be corrected immediately before they escalated. Inspectors could work with owners to set deadlines for work while tenants remained in buildings.

“I never wanted it to go away,” city Director of Inspections James Troeger said last week.

City inspectors said responses from building owners involved in the recent condemnations have been mixed, with some quickly obtaining permits and working on repairs. Others, they haven’t heard from. Nearly all the properties are owned by absentee landlords, some out of state, according to city records.

The condemned properties  

An eight-unit building at 73-79 School St. was condemned on Oct. 15 for water leaks, mold and lack of heat and hot water, Troeger said. The relocation lien totals $37,970 on the property, owned by VMA LLC of Shelton. Gomes said the owner provided memberships to a local fitness center for tenants to take showers, but with cold weather approaching, tenants still had no heat.

Assistant Building Official Greg Arpin said the owner has obtained building permits and work is underway to install new boilers.

Assistant Building Official Daniel Coley sent an eight-page condemnation letter Sept. 18  to Joes Realty LLC of Naples, Fla., owner of the two-unit house at 143 Hickory St. Coley listed missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, debris blocking exits, illegal door locks, holes and cracks in walls and ceilings, faulty baseboard heaters, illegal and faulty wiring, water in electrical light fixtures and defective stairs and floors.

At a two-family house at 123 Talman St., taken by Deutsche Bank National Trust in a foreclosure, tenants lost utilities when the bank failed to take over the account, Gomes said. Her office assisted three adults in one unit and two adults and two children in the second unit. The relocation lien totaled $10,000.

A fire Oct. 3 damaged one unit at 43-45 Fairmount St. An inspection of the entire house afterward revealed numerous violations, and the other units were condemned. Coley said repairs were nearly completed on three units, while the fire-damaged unit would take a longer to repair. Owner Jeanne Carol Marshall of Wilmington, N.C., is out of the country now, but local contractors are working on the repairs, Coley said.

An apartment unit at 171 Broadway was condemned by Uncas Health District for high levels of lead paint, and Norwich Human Services is assisting two adults and one child displaced as a result.

Uncas Health District Director Patrick McCormack said the city’s multi-agency approach to housing problems has helped financially struggling tenants. The Housing Management Team, with members from city and outside human services agencies, tries to work with landlords to allow time for repairs with a best-case scenario of keeping tenants in their homes.

If problems can’t be resolved, McCormack said, “we can’t leave tenants in an unsafe situation.”

An idea for a new inspection program 

Coley said he recently attended a blight enforcement conference, where a plan was presented for a housing inspection program that would give a letter grade to landlords based on past compliance with housing codes, their response to problems and cooperation with city agencies.

For owners with an “A” rating, the city would inspect one building every two years, Coley said. Those with a “B,” could draw inspections of multiple buildings every two years. Those with a “C” could be inspected every year, and those with a “D” rating could be inspected every six months. Since owners would pay inspection fees, they would have incentive to keep good records, Coley said.

Troeger said a mandatory housing inspection and rental certificate program would require additional staffing.

In the past, inspection fees did not cover costs and shrinking staff couldn't keep up with the schedule. When the City Council considered the repeal in January 2004, opponents said dropping the program would erase the progress the city had made in attacking blight and poor housing during the eight years the ordinance was in force.

The problem is cost, Mayor Peter Nystrom said.

“If you don’t have the resources, how do you start programs?” Nystrom said. “Where’s the money going to come from?”

Les King, vice president of the Norwich Property Owners Association, a landlords’ group, recalled there was “good and bad” with the old rental inspection system. Inspectors ended up spending time on apartments in compliance, leaving less time to target problem buildings. Landlords also were expected to call for inspections when apartments were vacated. It was mostly those in compliance who called, King said.

He said after it was repealed, the city tried a landlord registration system to provide inspectors with contacts for emergencies. But King said only three signed up — ones with good records.

King suggested a committee be set up to analyze the recent condemnations for possible patterns and to discuss options for problem properties and absentee landlords. The group could discuss the pros and cons of a grading system for inspections or an aggressive neighborhood blight attack as possible solutions.

King said the improved economy and demand for housing will be an incentive for landlords to improve their buildings. Enacting an inspection program with high fees could backfire, he said, especially with taxes already high in Norwich.

“It could have a little bit of a negative impact,” King said.

c.bessette@theday.com