County Cracking Down on Overcrowded Homes

FAIRFAX, Va. -- Illegal boarding houses are such a problem in Fairfax County that officials have created a special strike force to address the issue.

The "enhanced code enforcement strike teams" are made up of 15 different county agencies, including building, fire, health and zoning code inspectors. Police officers, sheriff's deputies, attorneys and other officials will assist the teams.

Fairfax County has seen a spike in the number of residences that are being converted into multiple family dwellings, which can create big safety concerns.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerry Connolly says people who knowingly violate the law will be pursued relentlessly.

"If there are violations, especially willful violations, we are going to enforce them as strictly as possible," he says. "If that means some people are going to go to jail, that means some people are going to go to jail."

Connolly says many county residents repeatedly rack up fines and fail to make changes once they are cited for housing violations.

Many residents will also make the necessary adjustments, but then go right back to violating the law, Connolly says.

Some of the areas that concern county officials the most are the Crestwood area of the Springfield district and parts of the Mason district.

But Connolly stresses that this is a county-wide initiative, relying on residents to report complaints.

Residents can report housing violations by going to the country's strike team Web site.

"I think we see the strike force as something that will operate in a different way," Connolly says. "It is going to inventory the problems of a given neighborhood and it is going to figure out a strategy for trying to address the problems as best we can within the bounds of the law."

The strike teams will have full-time members, including many employees who have been reassigned from their current positions.

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