Eyesores on the Hill

Boarded-up houses. They’re an eyesore, they attract rats, pigeons, and worse. They bring down the value of adjoining property. And it seems that every street on Capitol Hill has at least one. Fortunately, there are some remedies you can apply as a neighbor, some of which are described herein for those fighting blight on your street.

The residences at 221 and 223 11^th Street, SE have been boarded-up since the 1970s. Residents of 11^th Street that were around that long ago remember being pleased when these houses no longer had occupants, as this at least quieted the street down, and ensured that there were no longer screaming fights out front. However, they continued to be shuttered long after the rest of the street began improving. The owner had some fantastical ideas of turning them into condos, which would have required a zoning variance as well as the blessing of the neighbors, neither of which were forthcoming. Instead, he let them quietly crumble into the ground.

Eventually, the neighbors turned to the DC Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings (and no, ‘Insanitary’ is not really a word) who forced the owner to at least replace the roof of one building. On April 11, 2002, the buildings were featured on the front cover of the Washington Post’s District Extra section as buildings that the District had vowed to do work on the year earlier. However, this public shaming still didn’t make anything happen.

What did work was convincing the District to actually enforce a law that was then on the books: Vacant property is to be taxed at a much higher rate than inhabited property. After some effort by the neighbors, the taxes on the two properties were assessed at the higher tax rate in 2004. This gave the owner the impetus to do something: Namely, find a way to get the taxes lowered again without actually fixing up the properties. As it turned out, there are numerous loopholes to the vacant property tax rate, and so for the next couple of years the owner managed to keep the taxes at the old, low rate.

Neighbors then turned to their representatives: Ken Jarboe (who is the ANC commissioner) and Tommy Wells and his deputy Chief of Staff Linda O’Brien. After much discussion, a new law was enacted that ensured the loopholes for vacant properties were kept to a minimum and that furthermore uninhabitable properties were taxed at an even higher rate than habitable ones that were simply empty for whatever reason.

This meant that for the 2008 tax year, the owner of 221 and 223 11th Street SE suddenly found himself looking at a bill for $45,000, money that he was not able to scrape together until after the properties were put on the auction block at the DC tax sale.

The owner was able to reduce the taxes for the 2009 tax year, as the people in charge of implementing the new law were slow in working out how to implement it, but neighbors who asked about this were assured that the 2010 taxes would be assessed at the highest rate possible.

Perhaps it was this sword hanging over him; the owner finally sold the properties in February of this year. The “For Sale” placards came down, and there is now a sign proclaiming that a local builder will be renovating the two properties.

With that, two properties on the Hill are finally destined to be restored. But what about the place on your street? You can see what the status of it is by entering the Square number in this form, and then looking for the address. Then you can report them using the links on this page. It makes sense to follow up through your ANC commissioner or city councilmember to ensure that the Office of Tax and Revenue taxes the property accordingly.

More about the plans for 221 and 223 11^th Street next week.