Just over a month ago, junior political science major Jeremy Ferris was living in a soon-to-be-condemned Lisbon Avenue house that lacked running water and a landlord who answered the phone.
Now, Ferris and his roommates live in a more comfortable home on Heath Street, thanks to a "housing blitz" – a joint effort by UB Off-Campus Student Services and the City of Buffalo to make sure UB students in the University Heights are living in homes that meet city codes.
On Saturday, Off-Campus Student Services Director Dan Ryan began round two of the blitzes with a team of Buffalo building inspectors. In the first round, they checked students' houses on most of the University Heights streets, documented the homes that violated codes, and notified landlords that they had 30 days to address the violations. Thirty days have passed, and Saturday marked the return of the blitzers to Englewood Avenue to see if problems were fixed.
An Excel spreadsheet provided by Ryan shows that in the first round of blitzes, 204 houses were inspected across 11 streets in the Heights.
Equipped with the spreadsheet and a box of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, Ryan and company knocked on students' doors and asked if they could enter and inspect the houses. Students knew the blitz was coming, provided that they had up-to-date local addresses in UB's HUB Student Center. Though they were not required to allow entry, most did.
"The vast majority of people invited us in…We're just checking for smoke detectors, mechanical systems," said City of Buffalo Chief Building Inspector Lou Petrucci. "We're not writing up for kegs or other things."
Ryan indicated that some landlords, in an effort to avoid being cited for violations, have intimidated students by telling them not to let inspectors in, saying that UB officials would write up students for evidence of parties, underage drinking, or drug paraphernalia.
"No one [in the housing blitz] was checking to see if people are 21," Ryan said. "That's not the point. The point is to make sure that these places are safe. But [certain landlords] are trying to make people afraid to open the door."
Landlords who don't address cited violations could end up in housing court and face fines of up to $1,500 per count and/or 15 days in jail, according to Petrucci.
The blitz was organized in response to four fires in students' homes in the Heights during the 2010-11 academic year. Faulty electrical wiring, natural gas problems, and other building code violations were the cause of all four fires. An investigative report on living conditions in the Heights by Andrew Wiktor, former editor in chief of The Spectrum, also contributed to UB's taking action.
Ryan stressed that if landlords aren't responsive to a problem, students can contact Off-Campus Student Services officials (by calling or visiting their website, livingoffcampus.buffalo.edu), who can usually send someone to inspect a house and help enforce building codes within 24 to 48 hours.
On Saturday, Ferris was coincidentally hanging out with friends on Englewood when Ryan and his crew came by. He expressed appreciation for the housing blitz.
"I think it was good, yeah," Ferris said. "I mean, otherwise, I'd probably be dead from carbon monoxide poisoning."
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