Walking around the neighborhood east of the Syracuse University campus, it’s apparent that the outsides of many houses and apartments are in disrepair.

For many of them, this holds true for the insides as well-and along with the upkeep of physical appearances, landlords across the city are not in compliance with housing codes.

Some Syracuse residents are hoping a new state law, allowing judges to jail landlords who fail to fix code violations, will turn things around.

‘We’re trying to send a message that there’s a new game in town and you’d better make an effort to make these repairs,’ said Rich Puchalski, executive director of Syracuse United Neighbors, a coalition of several neighborhood associations in the southern parts of Syracuse.

SUN is a part of the Coalition for Effective Code Enforcement, which had worked with state legislators for three years to pass the law.

Judges can now hold landlords in contempt of court if they do not make the necessary repairs. If they ignore the contempt order, they may be sent to jail.

This law, which took effect in January 2006, applies to all types of code violations. A law that allowed contempt orders against landlords for safety and health violations was passed in the 1980s, Puchalski said.

‘I don’t think someone should go to jail for having a house that’s not up to code,’ said Ryan Suser, a senior entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises and economics major and project leader for The New York Public Interest Research Group. ‘It’s great that they’re taking this initiative, but they’re passing a very aggressive law that has no possibility of being enforced.’

The city housing inspectors are too understaffed and unable to enforce the codes now, he said. Landlords have very little reason not to lie, because inspectors can’t get to every house.

‘It would be equally absurd if the city of Syracuse said landlords have to get up every morning at eight and dance around their house or they would get the death penalty,’ Suser said.

A violation would have to be serious for the landlord to go to jail, said John Selby, a senior English and textual studies major, who lives on the 700 block of Livingston Avenue.

‘It seems a little silly that we’d be wasting our jail space with bad landlords,’ Selby said.

With such quick turnover of tenants, word-of-mouth should keep landlords in line, he said.

‘If you get a bad rep, people will know not to rent from a certain landlord or company,’ Selby said.

A typical fine is $10 per violation daily since the violation was observed, Puchalski said.

‘A lot of times, these fines result in no corrective measures made by the landlords,’ he said. ‘What we’ve been waiting for since April is the city to bring this course of action to the courts.’

Four landlords who may be affected by the law are in SUN’s neighborhood, Puchalski said. But not one of those landlords appeared at scheduled court dates two weeks ago.

‘I see our fight as getting the attention of the judge to take this action,’ he said. ‘When and if there’s a situation when a landlord lands in jail it will hopefully send a strong message that the city of Syracuse is getting tough.’

The argument that housing inspectors are not effective stems from the fact that there are not enough direct complaints, Puchalski said.

Inspectors usually go to into a house only when repairs are made and the permit is pulled or there is a complaint, Puchalski said.

‘It is a very rare circumstance that they will go up and down the street,’ he said.

Student-tenants should take responsibility for themselves, Suser said.

‘When students raise complaints, they don’t use language like codes,’ Suser said. ‘They don’t know what the specific laws are. The real solution to the problem is students demanding this information-asking their landlords, ‘Is this house up to code?’

Most of the landlords in danger of going to jail for code violations don’t own property in the South East neighborhood, said Michael Stanton, president of the South East University Neighborhood Association.

‘We support the bill, but I’m not one of the people who has really been pushing for it,’ Stanton said. ‘It seems like it’d be a nice thing to have.’

Colleen Eade, a senior biology major whose father is a landlord in the neighborhood, said one of her friends fell two stories when his porch railing collapsed.

‘Someone has to be held accountable,’ she said of smaller violations, such as when students leave trash on the property. ‘But I don’t see why it shouldn’t be the tenants. But if it’s a safety issue then that’s a crime for putting people in danger.’

Published on September 10, 2006 at 12:00 pm