D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb on Thursday introduced the Secure Apartments for Everyone (SAFE) Regulation Amendment Act to improve safety and reduce incidents of crime at city apartment complexes.
With each apartment building possessing unique characteristics and challenges, the SAFE Act sets forth a series of interventions allowing D.C. tenants, owners, and government agencies to work together to identify facility-specific problems and implement solutions that will make communities safer in the short and long term.
“Every Washingtonian deserves to feel safe in their home,” Schwalb said. “The SAFE Act offers a preventive, proactive suite of tools to address security concerns and enhance the District’s ability to work with tenants and landlords to develop tailored plans to address the needs of each building.”
Highlights of the SAFE Act include expanding the scope of Nuisance Abatement to include serious crimes involving guns; mandates on-site security assessments by the Department of Buildings for any property that has had two seizures of controlled substances within a three-month period, two seizures of firearms within a six-month period or two arrests for crimes of violence or dangerous crimes committed at the property within a six-month period; a security assessment takes place by the Department of Buildings with a report issued on specific measures to address safety concerns that must be shared with the Office of the Attorney General, Office of Tenant Advocate, the local advisory neighborhood commission and the ward council member’s office; and requires rental properties with five or more units to maintain self-closing and self-locking exterior doors and adhere to minimum standards for exterior lighting.
Changes to the Nuisance Abatement Act will allow the D.C. Superior Court to order a security assessment of a potential nuisance property to help determine the most appropriate measures and course of action. Additionally, the act will also clarify financial damages that landlords who maintain nuisance properties may be ordered to pay, including up to $1,000 for each day that a nuisance remains unresolved for the first 30 days and up to $5,000 per day for each subsequent day.
