WASHINGTON, DC — Joe Gersen said he began to see some issues with the doors in his home. He knew the that the shifting doors and cracks crawling up the walls in his living room were not a good sign.
The floors are no longer level. Gersen said a developer caused the damage when he compromised the foundation of his Northwest home. That developer was renovating the attached house next door.
"Once the brick in the front of our house really cracked, we started to worry about the safety of our house, and that's when we were, day-in and day-out, calling DCRA. You know, I was worried about the safety of my daughters," he said.
Gersen was worried that the developer was brushing him off. So, he called the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Illegal Construction Unit for help for six weeks. He said that he hit a brick wall.
"By the time they came out and looked at our house, the home next door was basically for sale," said Joe Gersen.
DCRA. The Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Its an important agency because it's mission is to keep you safe. Gersen feels DCRA failed its mission to protect him, his family and his home.
"I would say that it goes all the way to the top to Melinda Bolling, and that's who I'd hold accountable," he said.
Melinda Bolling is the director of DCRA. And, she is being called to account by the city council for her agency's lack of oversight. They said DCRA is not protecting homeowners from illegal construction.
WUSA9 had been trying to contact Director Bolling since January 2018. We finally caught up with Director Bolling at that council hearing.
The DCRA director said the agency she took over in 2015 was plagued by staff shortages, budget cuts and old technology.
"So, you're basically flying the plane while you're fixing it at the same time. Ahh, we've had significant improvement. We're responding to our citizens," Bolling said.
"They hate the phone calls. They hate people calling and complaining," said Delaine Englebert.
Englebert started out as a housing inspector at DCRA focusing on illegal construction. By the time she left the agency in September 2016, Englebert was the acting manager overseeing and reviewing construction projects and inspections in the city.
"If something's wrong, the workers just scatter," she said.
Last fall, the former enforcer submitted this testimony at a city council hearing. She points her finger at Mayor Bowser.
Englebert said, "There was a shift in DCRA's mission...that the people no longer mattered," and that "Getting the permits issued and out the door was the priority."
Back at that council hearing, Chairman Mendelson said to Melinda Bolling, "The Council should not have hours of testimony of people coming, citizens, ANC and business groups complaining about one aspect or another of DCRA."
After a year of oversight hearings and countless citizen complaints, the D.C. Council wants to break up the agency into two departments; one for construction enforcement, the other for licenses and consumer protection.
Director Bolling disagrees with making that move. Joe Gersen believes it's a win for residents.
"I really want District residents to know that with all this building that's happening in D.C. that DCRA is not there to protect them. If their house gets damaged by a developer, don't expect DCRA is going to come in and fulfill their mission because they're not," said Joe Gersen.
