Taking it to the streets

City inspectors enforcing zoning laws have been unwelcomed guests at houses rented by Saint Joseph’s students in recent weeks.

The major concern that brought the Department of Labor and Industry inspectors to the area prior to winter break was the number of residents in each house.

Section 14-102 (49) of the Philadelphia Code defines the term “family” as “a person living independently or a group of persons living as a single household unit using housekeeping facilities in common, but not to include more than three persons unrelated by blood, marriage or adoption.” The districts in the areas surrounding St. Joe’s campus are all zoned for residential uses only, and all houses within that are approved as “one-family dwellings” must adhere to those restrictions.

“He was dressed in just normal clothes and looked like he was dressed as a solicitor,” said Eric, a St. Joe’s student who lives with five other students in six-bedroom house on 63rd Street that was one of those inspected. “At first, he just came up to the door. Three of us were home, and he kind of just bluntly said, ‘Can I come in? Can I take a look around?’ and we knew obviously off the bat that it was more than just an inspection.”

Regardless of the penalties, it remains a common practice among students and landlords to violate zoning laws

Because of multiple visits by inspectors, some students scheduled fake move outs, storing belongings and staying at friends’ houses temporarily to allay suspicion before returning to their homes.       

These events are part of a constant state of conflict between residents and students known as the “town and gown controversy.” It is a challenge that most universities face, and includes issues like garbage, noise, and other decrements in quality of life for a neighborhood brought on by student renters.

"Home-owners and college kids just don’t make very good neighbors,” says Vincent McNally, Ph.D., an associate professor in the political science department at St. Joe’s who specializes in public administration. He has seen the conflict between residents and students firsthand for the last 40 years as a volunteer firefighter and administrative supervisor for the Lower Merion Township Fire Department.

“They can’t help being college kids, but I can’t help being 60 years old and having a lot of money invested in this house. I’m sure there’s some friction involved. I’m surprised there isn’t more to be perfectly honest.”

The law has been in place for many years, and has defended home-owners from a number of unwelcomed intrusions ranging from brothels to unsafe living conditions for illegal immigrant workers. Despite the law’s extent beyond its initial purposes, McNally believes that it is still valuable when applied to college students’ living arrangements.

The university has measures in place to limit the tension between students and their neighbors.

“We have an active line of communications with the neighbors when the neighbors need us to solve a problem or they call me to complain about something,” said Denys Davis, the school’s Off-Campus Housing Coordinator, who estimates that she fields five to six complaints from neighbors each day. “We meet on a regular basis with community leaders to go over issues that may or may not be student-related and just basic neighborhood issues, and to find out if there are any student-related issues.”

Even with those conversations, however, homeowners’ associations in the neighborhood, such as the Overbook Farms Club, continue to have frequent run-ins with St. Joe’s students.

“[The issue of incidents with students] falls fairly high on the list of priorities for the neighborhood, both from the standpoint of personal safety, property values, just quality of life issues that are created when there are people in the neighborhood who do things in our neighborhood that if they were living at home they would not do in their parents’ neighborhood,” said Kevin Maurer, president of the Overbrook Farms Club.

The club stresses that issues are brought up on an individual basis, and that the group’s function is not to enforce zoning codes or penalize infractions.

“We are not a policing agency,” Maurer said. “It is up to individual neighbors to report violations in terms of if there’s a party going on and people are spilling into the street, urinating on other peoples’ houses, and all of the things we experience. From the club’s responsibility, the important thing is that we are reporting the zoning laws as they exist.”

Any information that is used by neighbors is not obtained though the university, which Davis said has no “vested interest in making our students suffer and being put out in the street.”

According to Maurer, many of these houses are owned by absentee landlords, many of who aren’t even residents of Philadelphia. Often times, the owners are parents of current or former students, or just those trying to make money from students. Their distance from the situation makes them more likely to turn a blind eye to the probable violations occurring provided they receive their rent each month.

“The landlord’s going to have three names on the list, and when [inspectors] go to the landlord, he’s going to say, ‘Here’s my list; here are the three people that are responsible. I can’t park out there. I’m not the police. I can’t control who they bring in there,’” McNally said. “They know what’s going on, but all they care about is the check. Unless he owns 2405 and is living in 2407, what does he care as long as he’s getting his check?”