Oxford city council addresses poor housing conditions, approves November levy for fire department

Oxford residents renting units at Parkview Arms Apartments are asking city officials to address what they call unsafe and unhealthy living conditions in the city’s Section 8 housing.

At a city council meeting June 4, two tenants at Parkview Arms spoke to city council about issues with regular flooding and pests, difficulty getting help from management and more. Several city council members, including Vice-Mayor Chantel Raghu, said the city must look into solutions to improve living conditions.

“Any time we try to request help from the landlord and the maintenance, it’s usually just a runaround,” said Greg Landrum, a resident of Parkview Arms, at the city council meeting. He claimed that the property managers don’t provide copies of maintenance orders to tenants as required by law, so there’s no proof that any work is being done.

Landrum asked for help from the city to conduct health inspections for every unit.

Maria Johnson, another tenant who has lived in the complex with her three kids since February, said she has resorted to legal aid following problems with the property management. She said her apartment floods twice a week, but the property manager is hard to reach and has not addressed the situation.

After a fire broke out at the complex earlier this week, Johnson and other residents came together to discuss the poor conditions of the property.

“As soon as that fire happened a couple days ago, everyone was outside talking about the same things,” Johnson said. “The stoves don’t work. The fridges are either too small or they don’t work … or they don’t seal properly so the food doesn’t stay cold. The roaches, there’s constant roaches.”

City manager Doug Elliott said following complaints about Parkview Arms in 2019, the city met with officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which agreed to do annual inspections rather than once every two to three years. However, only about 10% of the units are inspected each year, and inspectors are required to give advance notice to tenants and property managers.

Oxford itself inspects each apartment every two years, Elliott said, and the last city inspections of Parkview Arms were in 2022.

Raghu said the conditions at Parkview Arms are unacceptable and have led to a drain on resources with more calls to police and fire and EMS services. She suggested creating a chronic nuisance ordinance similar to those used by Cincinnati and Hamilton to improve conditions and reduce crime in rental areas.

Oxford set to put fire department levy on November ballot

Also during the council meeting, the city passed a resolution to put a levy on the November ballot to address the Oxford Fire Department (OFD) budget deficit.

Elliott said OFD’s deficit is estimated to average $2.54 million per year in the next 12 years. The deficit has led to staffing shortages and puts a strain on the remaining staff who respond to a high number of calls, especially from Miami University, according to reporting by The Miami Student.

To address the budget shortfall, Elliott said Miami and the city have reached a tentative agreement with the city for each side to cover half of the deficit each year for the next decade. The university’s agreement is dependent on the levy passing this November.

“We’ve had several meetings with Miami University officials, and we have reached a tentative agreement with them to provide additional funding,” Elliott said. 

Under the agreement, the university and the city would each provide more than $1.2 million per year for 10 years to OFD. To cover its side of the agreement, the city will put a levy on the ballot this November. If the levy does not pass, the agreement will not be upheld.