Days after city officials announced a crackdown on townhouses with fire code violations, they evicted eight current and former GW students Tuesday from their home at 1016 22nd Street.
D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs officials are working with GW to ensure the safety of students living in off-campus housing after a Georgetown student died in a townhouse fire on Oct. 17.
University officials said they had been examining the 22nd Street townhouse even before the Georgetown fire. Several neighbors’ complaints about noise and trash turned into concerns that the house was overcrowded, University officials said. After inspecting the overcrowding complaint, city officials evicted the students Tuesday.
Six current students and two former students lived in the house, The Washington Post reported. The students – three of which The Post identified as Josh Hersch, Richard Oberman and Mike Simpson – could not be reached for comment.
“It is never our intention or our desire to see students displaced,” said Michael Akin, GW’s director of D.C. & Foggy Bottom/West End Affairs. “But as director, I’d rather have temporarily displaced students than students who die as a result of overcrowding or fire dangers.”
Akin said the University has been working to address neighbors’ complaints since the summer.
“We got a call in July from a group of community members in the West End and the area surrounding the townhouse in question,” he said. “They asked what GW could do to help combat some of the issues facing the neighborhood. They said most of the problems – noise, trash, behavior … were surrounding one property.”
GW sent warning letters to the residents and increased University Police presence in the area, Akin said. Last month, GW learned of possible housing violations and urged the DCRA to investigate.
“It became clear in September, community members said they really had valid concerns about the condition of the house … ” Akin said.
“As a University we have no ability or jurisdiction to deal with this, to go after a landlord,” Akin continued. “That’s not the issue. The issue is we have concerned community members who thought students may be in danger.”
Akin said GW used its “clout” to make the city aware of the residents’ concerns.
“Was it our call that spurred the action, or the Georgetown fire? Probably both,” Akin said.
Several messages left at the DCRA went unanswered. Tracy Schario, director of GW Media Relations, emphasized it was the city, not GW, that was responsible for the inspections.
Akin said students should not suffer as a result of the failures of their landlord, who housed a total of nine people in the house. While the students were offered beds in GW housing, they are believed to be living in hotels.
“The larger issue is a landlord who is not keeping as much attention to the property as they should be,” Akin said. “When students are sent out for that reason, of course we want to make sure they are not at a great inconvenience.”
