D.C. Council members at the time also urged the DCRA, which has often said it is short on housing inspectors, to focus on strategic inspections.

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DCRA Director Ernest Chrappah said the system for proactive inspections had not been updated in more than 10 years. He said he hopes the new algorithm helps protect tenants in the District and acts as an incentive for landlords to quickly fix code violations, because their buildings probably will receive more inspections when they have violations.

The DCRA makes housing inspections for two reasons. Inspectors visit properties when residents complain, and they make random inspections at houses and developments that have not been inspected over the past four years. The goal is to examine large complexes every few years.

The department will continue making random proactive inspections with the new algorithm but will be able to focus on buildings where there have been previous violations. The algorithm also will consider other factors, such as the age of the building, the history of its landlord and anything else that increases the likelihood of violations, said Georgetown data science professor NaLette Brodnax.

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Her class at Georgetown’s data science for public policy program began working with the DCRA last year after she got to know Chrappah, who has headed the agency since 2018. One of their top priorities is using data to improve services. She said she wanted students to apply the data science modeling techniques they were studying and to be able to give back to the community.

“The impact that we are having is really enabling [the DCRA] to leverage the information they have to be better at maintaining safe housing for District residents,” Brodnax said. “This has an impact on potentially thousands of D.C. residents, many of whom are part of vulnerable populations.”

Brodnax’s students began working on the project last spring, and students in her class last fall continued on it. She said she will work with the DCRA over the next few months to incorporate the new algorithm into current software.

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The students worked with existing DCRA data, she said, building profiles of units based on several factors, including previous violations, renovation dates and license status. She said one of her next goals is working with the department to identify and come up with inspection plans for units that are not licensed but that officials believe are being rented.