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Landlords put under heat
 Media Credit: Adam Masloski Chris Jaeger removes a fitting from a dryer at one his St. Cloud rental houses. Jaeger lives in the Southside with his fiancee and newborn baby. He rents out two of his houses to college students.
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When police arrived at 727 Fifth Ave. South, the residents expected their party to be shut down, not their house.
It was an unexpected second problem that kept police there: an unsafe living environment.
"I kinda saw it coming," said SCSU student Wes Revak. "There was a lot of stuff wrong with this house."
Actually, there was so much stuff wrong with the house (a lack of smoke detectors, shoddy wiring and electrical outputs, improper insulation and an outdated furnace without a cap) that after the police called the health inspectors, they deemed it unlivable. The inspectors immediately requested tenant evacuation and quarantined the house for four days while repairs were done.
Revak knew the house severely needed work even before he was forced to commute back and forth from his hometown in Plymouth to SCSU (without compensation) for nearly a week.
"Whenever we asked our landlord to fix something, normally he would be really pissed at us," Revak said. "But he's been a lot cooler since that whole situation."
It's not just his house that needs repair work, Revak said.
"It seems like since I'm a kid, they (landlords) kind of think that we can be screwed over," he said. "I've been to parties where some houses are far worse than mine."
Neighborhood action
A local group of St. Cloud residents want change.
A neighborhood coalition including members from St. Cloud Historical and Neighborhood Preservation Association (SNAPA), Neighborhood University Community Council (NUCC), the Eastside Boosters, the downtown council and other portions of St. Cloud have drafted a proposal to address their student housing concerns. They are best illustrated in Revak's story.
To the coalition, Revak's scenario is a black omen for two reasons. First, trouble (broken glass, noise and problems that come with general drunkenness) because of a party.
Second, a poor landlord/tenant relationship.
However, the coalition would argue that these two issues are pieces of a larger puzzle: the deterioration of the Southside.
Ed Garrett, professor at SCSU and board member of SNAPA, played a pivotal role in drafting the proposal.
"Neighborhood people got together and drafted it," he said. "It expands the landlord responsibility part of the city code."
The proposal puts a significant amount of responsibility in the hands of St. Cloud landlords to remedy what the coalition sees as problems.
According to the proposal under Subdivision 1 of Section 1110:10, it will become a landlord's responsibility to control their leaser's behavior as to not break a detailed list of city code regulations.
Some of the regulations include: obstruction of sidewalks, a permit to possess kegs, nuisances affecting peace and safety, nuisances affecting health and safety, property owner negligence, noise control and disorderly conduct.
President of NUCC and also an SCSU student, Garner Moffat, was given a copy of the proposal at a NUCC gathering earlier this month. Since then he has taken on some responsibility to push the proposal through to hit city council.
"I don't think it is overboard," he said. "It will help students that have problems in the neighborhood."
Three strikes
Three strikes and you're out. At least that's how the penalization process against landlords will be set up if the proposal passes.
If tenants break one of the regulations it will result in a violation for their landlord.
"It will hopefully put the landlords on notice that they are responsible for these houses," Garret said.
The first violation will result in a citation and warning from the health and inspections department. The owner will be directed "to take steps to immediately correct current and prevent further violations at the premises," according to the proposal.
The second violation within 12 months will constitute a $500 fine and the owner must submit a written report to the health and inspections department on how they will eliminate further violations.
If a third violation occurs in 12- month period, it will result in a $5,000 fine and removal of the landlord's rental license for a period of no less than 30 days and no more than one year.
Garret hopes that the proposal will make it to city council no later than March. First, however, various organization and city officials need to look at it.
"It's going through the comment process," he said.
Initial problems
"It's not anti-student," Garret said.
But not everyone agrees.
City Council President Carolyn Garven has some initial concerns with the proposal.
"I don't believe this ordinance has students in mind," she said. "What constitutes a healthy neighborhood for one person may not constitute a healthy community to another."
As it currently stands, Garven said the proposal might be too harsh on students. Not only will it be difficult to enforce some of these procedures, it could be financially impossible as well, she added.
"From one side, it makes a lot of sense, but on the other side it is impossible to enforce these things," she said. "We can't have a police officer and housing inspector on every block."
The proposal also puts too much responsibility in the hands of landlords, she said.
"I worry about the rights of the landlords."
Landlord scenario
Landlord Chris Jaeger, his fiancee and newborn baby live in a house on Eighth Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue South. He owns several houses around the Southside and even lives next door to some of his tenants.
"My neighborhood is fairly decent," he said.
Although he does not have much of a problem with his neighbors, besides the occasional loud noise late at night, he still would not advise a family to move in around there.
"It's not family-oriented at all, do not buy a house down there," he advised.
If passed, the proposal has potential to drive students out and probably bring more trouble than help to the town, he said.
"It's a baby-sitting deal," he said. "It would drive a lot of the people out."
Some of the proposed regulations would assist in targeting and stopping large gatherings outside neighborhood houses.
"They are probably going to aim for move-in days," he said.
Compared to others in town, Jaeger considers himself a good landlord. He usually responds to calls in a timely manner and keeps his properties up to date. But, if the new proposal were to pass, he could not be guaranteed a smooth ride.
To be perfectly safe, he said, "You'd have to have someone patrolling 24-hours-a-day."
Legal implications
Although he does not know the exact number, St. Cloud City Planning Director Matt Glaseman said that groups have pulled numbers indicating that the Southside permanent residence population has declined by hundreds within recent years.
This could be a reason for the surfacing of the proposal from permanent community residents, he said.
"The concentration is primarily around the campus," he said. "We question some of the direction that they (the coalition) are going."
In fact, some of the aspects of the proposal may not be legal.
"There are some issues they need to work out and find out whether they are even legal," Glaseman said.
Property care should certainly be a priority, but getting landlords to regulate their tenant's behavior is both unfair and difficult, he said.
"The landlord needs to maintain the property, but not the tenants."
Student reaction
If the proposal passes as is, the college community could suffer, said third-year student Megan Lyke.
"It would probably make people less willing to rent out to college students," Lyke said. "I think people are benefiting from us college kids being here."
Fourth-year student Aaron Yount feels the same. Landlords will definitely encounter problems with potential renters and housing conditions if the proposal passes, he said.
"If it passes the landlords are going to have a lot of problems," Yount said. "They are going to get in trouble, it's not a question."
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