Early voting is underway in Washington, DC with voters casting their ballots ahead of Tuesday’s November 5th general election. VOA’S Anthony LaBruto gives viewers an inside look at some of the specifics of the voting process as he casts his ballot for the first time in the U.S. capital.

An explosion shook an entire apartment building in Northwest D.C. the morning of Sept. 20 and residents ran. It felt like an earthquake, one resident told the News4 I-Team.

D.C. Fire blames the explosion in Columbia Heights on a gas leak from a stove inside an apartment. The woman using that stove was sent to the hospital. No one else was hurt, but D.C.’s Department of Buildings said no one could live in the building at 1433 Columbia Road NW until repairs were made and 41 building code violations found after the explosion were fixed.

Following the explosion, D.C.’s Office of the Tenant Advocate, a city-funded office, snapped into action and spent more than $250,000 on emergency housing for the tenants. It’s money it would get back with liens on the building, but that’s a court process and the building already has been tied up in court for years. Additionally, the OTA supplied rental vans to help tenants move to new housing.

More than a month later, District-funded emergency housing for the residents has run out but needed repairs haven’t even begun, according to the city. The I-Team found it’s not the only obligation the building’s owners, Helenia and John Steininger, a mother and son, have ignored.

A lawsuit filed last year claims the Steiningers owe D.C. Water $81,019.33 in delinquent water bills. D.C. Water asked the court to appoint a receiver but kept the water on. Property tax records show the family owes $206,655.68 in property taxes. The records show they haven’t paid taxes in the past three years, possibly longer. A tax sale is pending.

Maybe most concerning, the property has no insurance to pay for repairs. Court records in the property tax case show Ms. Steininger and her son told the court they had no insurance on the building and according to court records, “repairs will be expensive.” There is no law in D.C. requiring landlords to have insurance.

The News4 I-Team called and emailed the owners and attorneys who represented them in the past. We didn’t get any response to our questions. A visit to Ms. Steininger’s Northwest D.C. home didn’t yield answers either. A caregiver for the elderly owner wouldn’t let our team speak with her and didn’t say when she could.

Minutes after our visit, the owner’s son emailed, not to answer our questions but referring us to an attorney who indicated she doesn’t represent them on these issues. Her son didn’t reply to our questions either.

Residents had described substandard conditions for years

The conditions are no surprise to Abel Núñez, executive director of the aid group Carecen. Núñez said the group has tried for years to help the tenants deal with the conditions and a landlord who they said didn’t insist on safe repairs.

“The conditions are horrible,” Núñez told the I-Team. “This is a place that you would consider being run by a slumlord. But it wasn’t that black and white because the owner wasn’t necessarily exploiting them, more than just allowing them to do what they would do.”

He explained tenants told him they were allowed to do illegal sublets and make their own repairs to the building. One tenant told us, “We were very worried because they don’t say nothing about the lights, about their repairs, because they don’t do nothing.”

The building was last inspected in 2018, when 30 violations were found. Online records don’t show if repairs were made. City law makes it the landlord’s responsibility to maintain a safe building.

Speaking last week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters, “I am not sure what the viability of that building is at this point. It’s in really bad shape.”

As he was helping his aunt move out of the building, part-time resident Stanley Valencia told the I-Team he felt D.C. officials could have forced the owners to do more.

“They definitely should have done more,” he said.

Carecen’s Núñez said, “The city should create mechanisms to identify the owners, to either help them get right with the law and do what they need to do for their property or transition them out.”

Núñez told the I-Team, “They were willing to sacrifice good standard of living because they could afford to live in a neighborhood that they wanted to live.” In doing so, Núñez said, they sacrificed their own safety.

After the explosion, the D.C. Department of Buildings ordered the owners to submit a plan to fix the building and start repairs by mid-November. They still haven’t submitted a plan, let alone fixed anything.

DC’s Department of Buildings turned down an interview offer from the I-Team but explained “since day one … the District government has been working with residents. The Department of Buildings is ready to issue the permits to the landlord to do the necessary repairs and, until that happens, the building unfortunately must stay closed. In the interim, the District government is working with the tenants on removing their belongings if they desire and is also connecting them with community resources.”

The Department’s written statement didn’t say anything about the years before and it’s unclear if the residents, who were paying below-market rent, complained – seemingly trapped by low rent in a high-cost city.

“That is the tragedy,” Núñez told the I-Team, “because if they’re saying, ‘If I fight, but in the end, I win, but lose my apartment… I really lost.’”

October has shaped up to be a very good month for higher education philanthropy. This past week, Villanova University and the University of Washington have received private gifts of $40 million and $45 million, respectively, adding to a lengthy list of historic donations given to colleges and universities this month.

Villanova University

Villanova University received a gift of $40 million from an anonymous donor as part of Espiritus Nova: The Campaign for Villanova University, which was launched on October 5. The donation is the second largest individual gift in Villanova’s history and helps kick off its new capital campaign, which has a fundraising goal of $1.25 billion.

“This generous gift will strengthen our ability to advance Villanova’s educational mission and play a part in achieving our bold plans for the Villanova community set out in our Strategic Plan, Rooted. Restless.,” said University President Peter M. Donohue, in a news release. “I could not be more grateful for the continued belief and investment in the Villanova experience.”

The gift will be used to support the president’s strategic initiative fund, through which the president of the university can direct funding for priorities that include new academic programs, capital improvements and enhancements to student support.

University of Washington

At the University of Washington, a $45 million bequest from the estate of Stan and Alta Barer was received by the UW School of Law. The gift, described by the university as one of the largest bequests in its history, will be used to expand the Barer Institute for Leadership in Law & Global Development, which the couple helped establish originally as the Barer Institute for Law & Global Human Services with a donation of $4 million in 2008.

The gift will be used to support several priorities, including recruitment of additional international fellows, addition of more scholarships for students, creation of an endowed faculty chair to lead the institute, and enhancement of the institute’s global impact.

According to the university, the gift will allow the Barer Institute “to expand its work with mid-career attorneys from developing countries, enabling them to come to Washington state and then return to their homes to improve health outcomes, advocate for law and justice, boost education and spur economic development.”

“We are honored to extend Stan and Alta’s inspiring legacy of global leadership development with the help of this transformative investment,” said UW President Ana Mari Cauce, in a news release. “The work of the Barer Institute to cultivate talented mid-career attorneys for the benefit of their home countries and the world is one of our law school’s most innovative and effective programs, and we are delighted to be able to expand its reach.”

Stanley H. Barer was a University of Washington alum, earning both his undergraduate and law degree there. A well-recognized attorney nationally, he helped write the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

He served as a UW regent from 2004 to 2012 and was also a member of the university’s foundation board. Barer was given the 2021 Gates Volunteer Service Award, the university’s highest honor for volunteer service, prior to his passing in 2021. His wife, Alta, who preceded him in death in 2019, was also active in advocating and fundraising for the university.