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Taking a Count
Some property owners answered city's request to identify rooming houses, registering 49
Journal Photo by Bruce Chapman
William and Mary Roper own this rooming house at 1225 Waughtown Street. Owners of such properties in single-family neighborhoods must register them.
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Published: January 14, 2009
Despite concerns last year that rooming-house owners would not register their properties with the city, 49 properties have been registered, says Derwick Paige, the deputy city manager of Winston-Salem.
Most of the properties are in older downtown neighborhoods, including the Southside and along Patterson Avenue.
Paige said he is happy with the rate of compliance, given that as of Dec. 1, only one person had registered a property.
"We think what was happening was folks were aware, and they were waiting for the end to register," he said.
In 2007, the Winston-Salem City Council approved a yearlong registration period for rooming-house owners so that city officials could get an accurate count of the number of rooming houses and their locations.
The ordinance was driven by people in neighborhoods throughout the city who complained about trash, noise and crime.
A rooming house is a residential building for up to eight people who have their own bedroom but who share some common living areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms.
Property owners who registered their rooming houses last year and whose houses are in neighborhoods zoned for single families would have three years to bring their properties into compliance by using one of three options, said Bruce Bailiff, the code-enforcement project supervisor for the city's neighborhood-services department.
They could go before the City-County Planning Board and request that their property be rezoned to allow the rooming house.
They could also either turn the properties back into single-family houses, or they could meet the city's definition of "family," which allows four unrelated adults to live together if they share some living spaces and do not have such things as keyed locks on their bedroom doors.
If city inspectors discover that a rooming house is not registered, property owners will get a notice from the city giving them 10 days to decide whether to shut down the rooming house or to turn the house into a single-family residence, Bailiff said. Failure to comply could result in a fine of $100 a day.
Because of concerns about displacing large numbers of the working poor, council members added a provision to the ordinance that would allow the city council to change the amount of time allowed for properties to come into compliance if the registration showed that large numbers of people would be affected by the change.
Council Member Molly Leight, who represents the South Ward, said that the 49 properties that registered do not present a large enough problem to consider extending the compliance time.
In fact, Leight said she suspects that the number of rooming houses in the city is much higher.
City officials have never been able to come up with an accurate count of rooming houses.
She is urging neighborhoods in her ward to continue to identify rooming houses that are not registered and to bring them to the inspections department's attention.
The city did not go through all of the study and time involved in the ordinance only to have people ignore it, Leight said.
"That's just no good," she said.
Some rooming-house owners have said that the regulations would effectively put them out of business.
Neighborhoods are not likely to support a rezoning, and it would be difficult to find four strangers who would be willing to live together without being able to lock their bedroom doors with a keyed lock.
Reiner Kamper, who registered five rooming houses, said he is concerned for his tenants, many of whom cannot afford the security deposits for rent and utilities that apartments require.
Kamper said he charges about $100 a week for a room in one of his properties.
He said that his tenants include men and women of various ages.
Some tenants are living on disability payments and some are older people who live on fixed incomes.
Others have had financial setbacks because of divorce or child-support payments, and some are the working poor.
He decided to register, Kamper said, because he wanted to buy himself time to look for a solution that would not leave his tenants on the streets.
"Right now, in my opinion, is when they should be saying, ‘Let's create more of this kind of housing,'" he said.
He would like to see the city rezone an area that would allow rooming houses, perhaps in a neighborhood with a number of large, older homes.
The city could invite investors to come in and work with them to make sure that the properties are well managed.
Rooming-house owners have a financial incentive to manage their properties well, Kamper said.
And he hates to see the city punishing entrepreneurs who act responsibly for the few who do not.
"The city claims that it wants to eradicate homelessness," he said. "This is not the way to go about it."
Bailiff said that he has talked with several rooming-house owners and that the city is not trying to put anybody out of business.
"The real issue is the use of the property and compliance with city ordinances," he said. "That's what zoning is all about, is the use of the property."
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
People who own rooming houses in residential neighborhoods have three ways to comply with a new Winston-Salem ordinance:
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REZONING: The rezoning would have to be approved by the Winston-Salem City Council.
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CONVERSION: Turn the property back into a single-family home.
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FAMILY: Meet the city's definition of a "family," which allows four unrelated adults to live together if they share some living spaces and do not have such things as key-operated locks on their bedroom doors.
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