Houston Apartments

[WAZ]

Half the population of Houston lives in apartments. But apartments have earned a terrible reputation. Some apartments are hotbeds of crime; stairs collapse on children; raw sewage runs past. These problems are only at a tiny fraction of Houston's apartments, but they have given all of the market a bad name.

There are certainly many forces that affect apartments (economics, demographics, politics, the list goes on.) But a big part of it is how the City deals with multifamily properties. As a Houstonian, an architect, a neighbor to apartments, and a former tenant in apartments - I've compiled a list. These are all things I believe the City should do, or do more of. It is based on research compiled over ten years.

1 - We should assess apartment complexes based on crime rates, code violations, and anonymous tenant surveys. Efforts should be directed where they're needed.

New York City has done something similar with its Targeted Cyclical Enforcement Program (T-CEP) - and it has gotten results.

2 - The City shouldn't be afraid to go after slum lords - to force them to shape up or sell out on their properties. Nor should we be afraid to tear down the worst apartments.

Houston’s City Legal Department is very soft-footed in general (not just on apartments). A little courage could go a long way in forcing change in bad apartment complexes. At the same time, when people are dying at complexes, or living without basic services (water, electricity, working sewers) - the City should expedite condemnation.

3 - We should increase the maximum fines for building code violations.

For example, the maximum fine for vacant and open buildings is $2,000. For a big building, it could be cheaper to pay the fine than to secure the building. The same can be said for most of the other fines.

4 - We should get the State to close the condo complex loophole.

Slum lords can amass units in a condominium complex, rent them all out like apartments, and they're basically untouchable. State law requires that the City go after them separately for each unit they own. Le Promenade in Southwest Houston is a condo complex with very serious problems, where a single company owns 2/3 of the units and has let them deteriorate to third-world conditions. Nothing can happen until State law changes to allow the City to go after a slum lord once on multiple condos that they own in the same complex.

5 - There should be a concerted effort to renovate (or replace) substandard housing in Houston to turn it into safe, affordable housing for the working poor.

The City started to do this when they worked with Apartment Developer Rene Joubert to turn around the Fondren Court Apartments. We need more of this in Houston.

6 - The City should take the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to task over their approach to low-cost housing.

The TDHCA is too interested in building new low cost housing on open land. I say this based on TDHCA hearings that I've been to, and conversations with City officials. While their website suggests they also do renovations, I've yet to see it in Houston. It would be much better for Houston if they did more renovations instead of new construction.

8 - The City should get more involved in arranging for services in apartment complexes.

Many apartment complexes offer after-school programs for kids, job placement programs, and other services. These can completely change an apartment complex. It’s certainly something that should be expanded. And if the City isn’t already helping to broker deals to put programs like these in apartments – it should.

9 - The City should work with METRO to provide better transit to and from apartments.

The Chronicle ran a story in 2008 about a guy who commuted two hours, one way, by bus - to get from his home near Hobby Airport to his job in Southwest Houston. Many people find themselves with long commutes on METRO buses. The City should work with METRO to carefully review service city wide. It's especially important in areas with high density, and large agglomerations of apartments.

10 - HPD's Blue Star Multifamily Program should be expanded into something like a CPTED version of LEED.

The Blue Star Program trains apartment managers and owners on how to keep crime out of their properties. It shows them how to implement Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) fundamentals. It could expand to include developers, architects, and contractors in addition to owners and managers. It could also extend to other types of development. (Retail, subdivisions, offices). Houston could market the program to other cities.

I'm under no illusions that these will be easy to do. There are too many people who make a lot of money by keeping the status-quo in Houston apartments. The Houston Apartment Association has a very powerful lobby to represent them. Some Elected officials have a hand in slum apartments (State Rep Hubert Vo; Fort Bend JP Jim Richard). But if the City were to do even half of these things it could make a huge difference.

[TheNiche]

Half the population of Houston lives in apartments. But apartments have earned a terrible reputation. Some apartments are hotbeds of crime; stairs collapse on children; raw sewage runs past. These problems are only at a tiny fraction of Houston's apartments, but they have given all of the market a bad name.

There are certainly many forces that affect apartments (economics, demographics, politics, the list goes on.) But a big part of it is how the City deals with multifamily properties. As a Houstonian, an architect, a neighbor to apartments, and a former tenant in apartments - I've compiled a list. These are all things I believe the City should do, or do more of. It is based on research compiled over ten years.

1 - We should assess apartment complexes based on crime rates, code violations, and anonymous tenant surveys. Efforts should be directed where they're needed.

New York City has done something similar with its Targeted Cyclical Enforcement Program (T-CEP) - and it has gotten results.

2 - The City shouldn't be afraid to go after slum lords - to force them to shape up or sell out on their properties. Nor should we be afraid to tear down the worst apartments.

Houston’s City Legal Department is very soft-footed in general (not just on apartments). A little courage could go a long way in forcing change in bad apartment complexes. At the same time, when people are dying at complexes, or living without basic services (water, electricity, working sewers) - the City should expedite condemnation.

3 - We should increase the maximum fines for building code violations.

For example, the maximum fine for vacant and open buildings is $2,000. For a big building, it could be cheaper to pay the fine than to secure the building. The same can be said for most of the other fines.

4 - We should get the State to close the condo complex loophole.

Slum lords can amass units in a condominium complex, rent them all out like apartments, and they're basically untouchable. State law requires that the City go after them separately for each unit they own. Le Promenade in Southwest Houston is a condo complex with very serious problems, where a single company owns 2/3 of the units and has let them deteriorate to third-world conditions. Nothing can happen until State law changes to allow the City to go after a slum lord once on multiple condos that they own in the same complex.

5 - There should be a concerted effort to renovate (or replace) substandard housing in Houston to turn it into safe, affordable housing for the working poor.

The City started to do this when they worked with Apartment Developer Rene Joubert to turn around the Fondren Court Apartments. We need more of this in Houston.

6 - The City should take the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to task over their approach to low-cost housing.

The TDHCA is too interested in building new low cost housing on open land. I say this based on TDHCA hearings that I've been to, and conversations with City officials. While their website suggests they also do renovations, I've yet to see it in Houston. It would be much better for Houston if they did more renovations instead of new construction.

8 - The City should get more involved in arranging for services in apartment complexes.

Many apartment complexes offer after-school programs for kids, job placement programs, and other services. These can completely change an apartment complex. It’s certainly something that should be expanded. And if the City isn’t already helping to broker deals to put programs like these in apartments – it should.

9 - The City should work with METRO to provide better transit to and from apartments.

The Chronicle ran a story in 2008 about a guy who commuted two hours, one way, by bus - to get from his home near Hobby Airport to his job in Southwest Houston. Many people find themselves with long commutes on METRO buses. The City should work with METRO to carefully review service city wide. It's especially important in areas with high density, and large agglomerations of apartments.

10 - HPD's Blue Star Multifamily Program should be expanded into something like a CPTED version of LEED.

The Blue Star Program trains apartment managers and owners on how to keep crime out of their properties. It shows them how to implement Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) fundamentals. It could expand to include developers, architects, and contractors in addition to owners and managers. It could also extend to other types of development. (Retail, subdivisions, offices). Houston could market the program to other cities.

I'm under no illusions that these will be easy to do. There are too many people who make a lot of money by keeping the status-quo in Houston apartments. The Houston Apartment Association has a very powerful lobby to represent them. Some Elected officials have a hand in slum apartments (State Rep Hubert Vo; Fort Bend JP Jim Richard). But if the City were to do even half of these things it could make a huge difference.

The fact presented in your first sentence is false, and your thesis statement is a broad-brushed generalization.

1. We already do. Contact HPD's public relations folks for further details. There are also multiple Chronicle articles on the subject.

2. OK, so apparently your name is not Hubert Vo. The City is already becoming increasingly strict and was never blind to the problems presented by substandard housing. Condemnation is a last resort, usually unnecessary, however it is a tool in the box. And the City is not afraid to use it.

3. The fines discussed in the City of Houston's Code of Ordinances are set up to be recurring and cumulative.

4. That's reasonable enough.

5. Whatever your standard is that substandard housing isn't up to snuff, the crappiest housing is going to be the most affordable. If we get rid of the crappy cheap-as-dirt housing, where do indigent populations live? Crappy apartments don't cause criminal behavior or abject poverty, people do...wait, wasn't that part of your thesis?

6. TDHCA is not a developer. They don't "do" renovations, and must rely upon developers wanting to do renovations to submit a request for Tax Credits. TDHCA can modify the point system such that renovation plans are favored over new construction, however it is not lawful for them to cherry-pick the type of projects that they consider to be worthy over those that they consider to be less worthy.

On another note, that you haven't seen that any renovations have been done in Houston does not mean that they don't happen. My database (which is mostly complete, but certainly not all-encompassing) counts 90 Tax Credit (excluding seniors housing) apartment complexes in the Houston region encompassing 16,575 units which were built prior to 1990, which is to say that they had most definitely been renovated.

Many elected officials would no doubt be very interested in focusing efforts on renovation over new construction. NIMBYs comprise a significant constituency.

7. You left out #7.

8. That's innocuous enough. Who pays, though?

9. I'm not a fan of how METRO does many aspects of its business, but I question how or why you believe the City of Houston would be any better at it. Also bear in mind that METRO is a regional authority, and the City of Houston is only one of its member cities.

10. I like the program, but let's not make it like LEED program. Excessive fees would discourage use.

[Heights2Bastrop]

WAZ, while I agree with the spirit of your post, I have to say it’s a bit one-sided. You want to make the landlords and owners more responsible for the conditions of the residences. What about laws making the residents themselves more responsible?

Back in the 60s, my uncle used to own a small apartment grouping off Wirt Road near Long Point. I went there with him one evening to check on a vacant apartment, and I mentioned the condition of the place, and how he must hate having to make repairs all the time.

His reply was, “Hell, why fix them up when the new tenants will just tear them up again? If they want work done, then they can do it themselves.”

I thought that was a tacky, cynical way of looking at things, but there is a lot of truth to what he said. I know first hand how much damage tenants do to a place, and often the security deposit (if there is one to begin with) doesn’t come close to covering the damage.

I’d just like to see both sides become more responsible, and by force if necessary.

[Fringe]

Bring all apartments up to today's building codes.  Honestly, I would not live in an apartment building or condo that was not fully sprinklered. If anyone does, than I hope you have your valuables somewhere else and a huge life insurance policy. 

[TheNiche]

Bring all apartments up to today's building codes.  Honestly, I would not live in an apartment building or condo that was not fully sprinklered. If anyone does, than I hope you have your valuables somewhere else and a huge life insurance policy. 

Apartment fires aren't uncommon, but the odds of dying in one are low enough that if you drive a car at all, then by your standards, you ought to have a life insurance policy that is at least as large as whatever you define as "huge".

[citizen4rmptown]

WAZ, while I agree with the spirit of your post, I have to say it’s a bit one-sided. You want to make the landlords and owners more responsible for the conditions of the residences. What about laws making the residents themselves more responsible?

Back in the 60s, my uncle used to own a small apartment grouping off Wirt Road near Long Point. I went there with him one evening to check on a vacant apartment, and I mentioned the condition of the place, and how he must hate having to make repairs all the time.

His reply was, “Hell, why fix them up when the new tenants will just tear them up again? If they want work done, then they can do it themselves.”

I thought that was a tacky, cynical way of looking at things, but there is a lot of truth to what he said. I know first hand how much damage tenants do to a place, and often the security deposit (if there is one to begin with) doesn’t come close to covering the damage.

I’d just like to see both sides become more responsible, and by force if necessary.

I live in an apartment, and i hate the neighbors who have a jungle outside near their apartment, or have all their children's toys outside as well as bikes. It just makes the apt. seem so cluttered and possibly drives away potential new tenants(both good and bad).

I'm all for taking care of our homes including the lawns, as we wouldn't have to wait for the "landscapers" to come.

The problem is

1. The management should be responsible for the purchase of machines needed for the responsibilities to maintain the property.

2. An appropriate storage area would be needed. (I hate the clutter)

3. Should the tenants get paid?

[Heights2Bastrop]

I'm not talking about trash, as in refuse. I mean people who trash the place, as in tear up carpets, knock holes in walls and physically destroy the apartments.

[WAZ]

The fact presented in your first sentence is false, and your thesis statement is a broad-brushed generalization.

1. We already do. Contact HPD's public relations folks for further details. There are also multiple Chronicle articles on the subject.

2. OK, so apparently your name is not Hubert Vo. The City is already becoming increasingly strict and was never blind to the problems presented by substandard housing. Condemnation is a last resort, usually unnecessary, however it is a tool in the box. And the City is not afraid to use it.

3. The fines discussed in the City of Houston's Code of Ordinances are set up to be recurring and cumulative.

4. That's reasonable enough.

5. Whatever your standard is that substandard housing isn't up to snuff, the crappiest housing is going to be the most affordable. If we get rid of the crappy cheap-as-dirt housing, where do indigent populations live? Crappy apartments don't cause criminal behavior or abject poverty, people do...wait, wasn't that part of your thesis?

6. TDHCA is not a developer. They don't "do" renovations, and must rely upon developers wanting to do renovations to submit a request for Tax Credits. TDHCA can modify the point system such that renovation plans are favored over new construction, however it is not lawful for them to cherry-pick the type of projects that they consider to be worthy over those that they consider to be less worthy.

On another note, that you haven't seen that any renovations have been done in Houston does not mean that they don't happen. My database (which is mostly complete, but certainly not all-encompassing) counts 90 Tax Credit (excluding seniors housing) apartment complexes in the Houston region encompassing 16,575 units which were built prior to 1990, which is to say that they had most definitely been renovated.

Many elected officials would no doubt be very interested in focusing efforts on renovation over new construction. NIMBYs comprise a significant constituency.

7. You left out #7.

8. That's innocuous enough. Who pays, though?

9. I'm not a fan of how METRO does many aspects of its business, but I question how or why you believe the City of Houston would be any better at it. Also bear in mind that METRO is a regional authority, and the City of Houston is only one of its member cities.

10. I like the program, but let's not make it like LEED program. Excessive fees would discourage use.

1: This is not what my contacts at the City have said. Currently, substandard housing is addressed on a 'squeaky wheel gets the grease' basis. They want to start periodic inspections of apartments, but special interests made it so that they'd have to inspect every apartment in the City on a three year cycle. They won't be allowed to concentrate on older apartments, or properties with histories of problems. They can't afford to do it.

2: Again, this is not what my contacts at the City have said. I'll add, we should not be afraid to break up apartment complexes and condemn PORTIONS of them. In some cases it makes sense to knock down a handful of buildings in a complex for a park, or school, and refurbish the rest.

3: The fines are recurring and cumulative - and still too low. I've seen the hearings where they're imposed. Too many slum lords leave those hearings with a smirk on their face.

5: I'm not saying that lousy apartments turn people into thugs or cause poverty. Lousy apartments attract poverty because people who can afford better apartments won't rent there. To prop up occupancy, slum lords rent to anyone who can pay (including criminals and gang members). Then of course there's the visual urban blight - which depresses land values and makes propagates the cycle of poverty and crime.

It's NEVER a good idea to just warehouse the poor in slums and forget them. A better approach is to eliminate these lousy apartments, and give the poor a hand up so they can get back on their feet, and as a byproduct get better apartments. Chicago learned this first hand, and it's what they did to fix the failed Cabrini Green and Robert Taylor Homes housing projects.

6: Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding, Local authorities have the opportunity to endorse or not endorse housing projects chosen for subsidies by TDHCA. All I'm suggesting is that the City have a rule whereby ONLY renovation projects are endorsed by City authorities.

To the second part of your response, I've based this on what City officials have told me (that TDHCA favors new construction) and on the fact that the hearings I've been to and seen have all been for new construction on new land. I'd love to see your database suggesting otherwise.

To the third part of your response. In many of the TDHCA hearings I've been to, neighbors have begged the developers to instead buy existing apartments and renovate them. It's simple logic. Build new subsidized housing on open land, and all you've done is make good homes for 150 working families. Buy a slum and turn it around, and you've made good homes for 150 working families, AND you've helped mitigate crime, AND you've fixed urban blight, AND you've raised the tax base. Instead of one win, you've got four.

8: If the City can fund the Super Neighborhood program, they can certainly fund a department about that size that just brokers services for apartments. The actual programs themselves would be funded by the non-profits that run them.

9: I can't figure out who METRO listens to. Houston is the biggest city served by METRO. It stands to reason that the Houston City Government should have some sway with METRO. But it doesn't seem to be that way. This is what I was driving at.

10: The value of LEED is that being "LEED Platinum" means something, and can make an owner a lot of money. If only a building could be "Blue Star Platinum," and it had as much cache. I don't think it works that way now, and it should.