Affordable and safe off-campus housing for students has always been a contentious issue. The push-and-pull, back-and-forth of local and state politics, vocal landlord lobbies and a revolving door of tenants have all contributed to the complexities of the Seattle housing market.

The latest step in addressing the housing dilemma, which affects many residents in neighborhoods surrounding the UW campus, was a proposal by Seattle City Councilmember Nick Licata, who proposed $75,000 for the 2008 City of Seattle budget to allow the Department of Planning and Development to research the possibility of developing a city-wide rental housing inspection program that would bring substandard housing to the city code compliance.

According to Councilmember Licata's Web site, "The impacts of such a program would be considered before its implementation, including the costs of administration and potential market responses.I would also like the study to look at other mechanisms other than a licensing program that might work to bring substandard rental housing into compliance."

Licata specifically pointed to instances in the U-District that spurred the need for the pilot program he proposed.

"There have been instances of fires in such dwellings, particularly in the University District," he writes. "The University of Washington and their student government both join local neighborhood groups in supporting my proposal."

The proposal failed in a vote of 3 to 6, an improvement from last year's vote of 1 to 8.

Opponents of the proposal claimed that the current laws are sufficient in addressing the problems of substandard properties, and that a tenant's 4th Amendment rights to protection from illegal search and seizure would be violated by such a program as Councilmember Licata advocated.

In the Washington State Supreme Court case of McCready v. City of Seattle, the court ruled that the Rental Housing Inspection Program (RHIP) did not have the authority to inspect houses because the city did not have the administrative warrant authority. The inception of RHIP began in 1987 when a city ordinance gave the Department of Construction and Land Use the ability to inspect houses and check for code compliance.

Of the 350 multi-family housing units inspected, about 78 percent had violations. Eighty percent of the units in violation had never been reported prior to the city inspection.

As a result of evidence such as this, many people believe a complaint-based housing inspection system is inherently flawed.

McKinley Smith, an assistant director in the ASUW Office of Government Relations, believes the problem is magnified in the U-District because of the limited time students occupy a house. This, in turn, provides little incentive for landlords to keep their properties up to code. As the years go by, the problems compound and are passed off to each successive group of tenants.

The ultimate fear is that eventually some catastrophe will occur, one which could have been prevented by proactive city inspections. A recent fire in off-campus housing at the Rochester Institute of Technology, in Rochester, N.J., which killed two seniors, is such an instance.

The landlord, Cataldo Arbore, had previously been fined $9,000 and the house the fire occurred in had received 20 "mostly external" violations since March 2005, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. City inspectors were unable to go inside the house for at least a year. Further investigations concerning adequate number and placement of smoke detectors and lawful number of occupants in the house are still ongoing.

As for what can be done in the University District to prevent such tragedies from happening and to bring attention to existing violations, Smith encourages students to come forward and contact Off-Campus Housing Affairs at 206-543-8997.

"I hope people come forward and start a wave of holding landlords responsible for what they've been doing to students for two decades," Smith said. "It would be neat to see students getting out of the mentality that it doesn't matter. What is affecting you this quarter or this year could affect other people in the future. Who knows what is going to happen in the next year."

A former ASUW Senate member, who wished to remain anonymous, believes the need to start gaining an accurate picture of housing in the U-District is essential before further steps are taken to protect vulnerable tenants in these neighborhoods.

"We need to take a biopsy of the region and see just how bad it is," the former senator said. "I know it is going to be somewhat bad but who knows what we'll find. The only way we can do this is to bring the city in and have them inspect the houses. People are deathly afraid because they think their rent is going to go up, they'll get evicted and they'll have to move. People don't understand a lot of that stuff is illegal."

Reporting problems through the proper channels is the first step, but a holistic and comprehensive approach is necessary to rectify the long-term issues with housing in the U-District, the former senator said.

"That will fix the acute problem but it doesn't fix the chronic problem. [The housing] never gets fixed because the only person who inspects the housing is the landlord," the former ASUW Senator said.

Fixing the chronic problem will take political will and a policy all parties involved can agree on.

Two developments exist, however, that give people like Smith hope a change will happen soon. Earlier in the fall, in a 7-2 decision, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled in City of Pasco v. Shaw that mandatory, periodic city inspections provided by private companies do not violate tenants or landlords' 4th Amendment rights. State Senate bill 6105 would grant a judge the authority to issue a civil inspection warrant that would check for adherence to local and state law.

"This is basic, minimal stuff we're talking about here — heat, doors, locks, windows, appliances. Nothing extraordinary, nothing unreasonable," the former senator said.

Smith wants students to step forward and not feel intimidated or fear reprisal for standing up and reporting legitimate concerns they may have about their apartment or house.

"We want to steer students away from being apathetic by providing them options and resources to use," Smith said.

[Reach reporter Garret Troy at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]