The most notorious neighbor on several Des Moines blocks is a man few know.

Gary Oeth, 65, works out of a large corner brick home east of the Statehouse. Plumbing and electrical supplies clutter the sagging front porch.

Insulation covers the windows.

The haggard landlord, who drives around to his properties in a run-down pickup, owns more rental homes in rough to ragged condition than any other single property owner in Des Moines, county assessor records show.

Oeth's situation highlights the frustrations that city officials and neighbors share over run-down properties that they say are dragging down neighborhoods.

More than a dozen of Oeth's properties are scattered every block or so down Capitol Avenue, where Oeth runs All City Services out of the 117-year-old home.

Oeth said he and eight workers "try each year to paint and clean and do what we can" to maintain his properties, most of which he bought as "rehabilitation projects."

But over the years, the city of Des Moines has taken him to court at least 20 times for failing to keep his properties up to code and junk-free.

Labeled as a habitual violator, Oeth has faced fines for years for storing debris, auto parts, appliances and other items on his properties.

At least three of his homes deteriorated to the point they were considered uninhabitable at the time of their 2017 assessment, according to standards used to estimate a home's value.

Ninety-seven of Oeth's homes were listed as being in below normal, poor or very poor condition, assessor records show.

Those designations have nothing to do with the age of the homes and everything to do with their condition, according to Polk County Assessor Randy Ripperger.

That Oeth — who owns 218 homes and lots in Des Moines — has been allowed to keep so many houses in poor shape for years agitates many people.

Chelsea Lepley, 34, not only lives in one of the areas in Des Moines most affected by run-down rentals, but also volunteers to help meet the metro's growing need for safe, affordable housing.

“Everyone deserves to live in decent housing, especially if they are paying rent,” said Lepley, a board member of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund. “It seems to me that if you can’t afford to keep your properties in good condition, maybe you can’t afford to own so many.”

Improving unsafe and run-down housing is a top concern in Lepley’s neighborhood and two others nearby that make up what’s called the Viva East Bank area.

Other residents who are wary of increasing rents and a shrinking supply of affordable housing in the metro share that concern, I’ve learned on a walking tour this summer of Des Moines’ 52 neighborhoods.

Several neighbors have written me to question why the city allows so many homes to fall into deep disrepair or that are outright abandoned.

The city manages a list of 200 to 250 such homes at any given time — dwellings in such dire shape they should be demolished.

Others have questioned why there is a race to build thousands of new market-rate housing units downtown as neglected neighborhoods fight to improve.

Plus, better-kept homes would translate into more tax revenue. City officials estimate that if values for all property increased annually by about 3.3 percent in Des Moines, enough tax dollars could be generated each year to keep up with the city's growth.

But after years of the city making deep budget cuts during the recession, including 313 jobs over nine years, Des Moines has fallen behind in spending on infrastructure and other needs, City Manager Scott Sanders said.

New housing will contribute to the city's vitality going forward, but the city also needs to build more value now in its existing housing stock, Sanders and others say.

Another factor affecting the city's ability to address housing issues: Federal money for a mix of housing programs has declined. President Donald Trump's budget calls for cutting the Housing and Urban Development budget of almost $50 billion by $6 billion.

At the same time, the Des Moines metro is growing faster than any other in the Midwest.

Pam Carmichael, who heads the nonprofit Home Inc., has called that combination a "crisis in the making" for the Des Moines metro.

One man's effect on east side

Across Des Moines, more than 4,500 homes are listed in below normal, poor or very poor shape, according to the assessor's office.

Many are held by homeowners or limited liability corporations.

About 300 belong to 10 landlords or rental management companies, according to Polk County assessor data. They include Oeth, Kent Lehs, Elite Residential II, Todd McClish, EPC LLC, Twelfth LLC, BBT Rentals, Endeavor Rentals, M&B Scott Properties and Leff Enterprises.

Several landlords regularly trigger complaints to city housing inspectors and face fines for failing to keep properties up to code.

But Oeth owns more homes in substandard condition, especially on the east side of the city, than the rest of the top 10 owners by far.

Oeth says he's been buying properties since he was 22, but he has stopped acquiring new ones.

He said he's not opposed to selling some of his homes, but getting rid of a few won't make much difference in how they are maintained.

"We'd like to continue improving them. We've done the roofs about as well as we can. We talked to the city about (some with) insects and rodents, but they don't have any control over that," he said. "We do provide different things for those problems."

He said much of the work his crew does on the homes is driven by what inspectors find.

"They have my complete cooperation," he said. "The tenants can cause messes in the properties. But if they don't clean them up, we do it for them. We try to be as proactive as we can."

Oeth's homes have been the target of recent discussions in neighborhood meetings and gatherings.

School workers at Carver Elementary, 705 E. University Ave., raised concerns this school year about families living in substandard conditions, Principal Jill Burnett-Requist said.

Oeth is "the landlord they seem to hear most about," she said.

The families expressed fear of eviction if they complain.

Pressure on inspectors

Those complaints and concerns about possible retaliation led Lepley to reach out this month to city inspectors to have them spell out the scope of the problems with Oeth's properties.

But so far, she said, inspectors have denied her request for specific information about how those properties stack up next to those of other landlords in the city.

Lepley lives about a mile north of the Statehouse in the Capitol Park neighborhood.

Local housing organizations such as the Community Housing Initiatives have helped turn around many dilapidated homes in the area, but roughly 60 percent who live there are renters, she said.

Lepley, 34, said she resents landlords who do the bare minimum of maintenance on their properties. Not just because that affects home values, she said, but because it affects how people feel about where they live.

“Inspectors have known it’s been an issue for a long time, and it seems like they kind of feel helpless,” she said. “Some of these houses are real crapholes. … But they don’t want to antagonize a property owner.”

Demand for housing in the metro is huge: The city maintains a waiting list of 2,500 names for families who seek Section 8 housing vouchers.

The last time workers took applications to get on that list — in October 2014 — they received 4,420.

National data released this year by the Urban Institute found Polk County has roughly 30 units for every 100 low-income households — worse than the national average, as well as for neighboring cities such as Omaha and urban centers such as Brooklyn, N.Y.

Des Moines has also become a magnet for millennials who carry large amounts of student loan debt. The average monthly student loan payment nationally for a borrower age 20 to 30 years is about $350.

The growing crisis bothers people like James Conlin, whose company, Conlin Properties, runs and develops complexes for low-income people across the metro.

“I don’t think the city is going to be able to build near enough housing to keep up with demand,” he said. “So I think the best approach for the city is to encourage property owners to rehabilitate substandard property today.”

Conlin says city leaders need to crack down on those who try to turn the most profit from rentals without maintaining them.

“It’s my opinion that people who own properties have a responsibility to satisfy the city codes,” he said. “The owners have a responsibility to do that, or they should forfeit ownership.”

“We’re past the time of talking about it. It’s got to be done," Conlin added. “It’s not realistic to believe the (federal) government is going to be writing larger checks.”

Raising expectations

City officials say landlords have too long had an upper hand over neighbors.

Last fall, the city initiated a new inspection program that attempts to better reward good landlords and punish neglectful ones.

Those who keep rentals in good shape need to undergo a renewal inspection only every three years.

Those who appear to be slipping in their property maintenance will be inspected every 16 months. And those who have the most violations will be inspected every six months.

"We also changed the rental code standards so that they are less than forgiving," said Phil Delafield, the city's community development director.

The city also required timelines for needed repairs to address violations, instead of approving extensions, Delafield said.

"Now the focus is on the property and the neighborhood, not the landlords," he said.

Delafield said it's still hard to say whether the changes are having the desired effect. But violations will get more expensive for those who flout the rules: $5 a day for every code violation, up to $5,000.

"The good landlords like it because it reinforces their already existent behavior. We’re not hearing complaints from them," he said. "We're hearing from those who are looking to bleed the property."

The city, he said, also can explore other options, including taking over neglected rental properties, if the changes made last fall aren't enough, he said.

Watchdog Unleashed

The concept: Reader’s Watchdog columnist Lee Rood hatched the idea on a cold night when she wanted to get back to her favorite solo activity: walking. When spring arrived, Rood resolved to break up her well-worn routes to rediscover the more than 50 neighborhoods that populate her hometown of 20 years.

For the next few months, she’ll focus reporting on the big issues facing some of those neighborhoods.

Where she’s been: ACCENT, Beaverdale, Capitol East, Capitol Park, Chautauqua Park, Cheatom Park, Downtown Des Moines, Historic East Village, Lower Beaver, Indianola Hills, Martin Luther King Jr., McKinley School-Columbus Park, Oak Park, Prospect Park, River Bend, Salisbury Oaks, Sherman Hill and Woodland Heights.

Where she’s headed: Drake, Mondamin Presidential, Union Park.

What should she Watchdog next? Write her at lrood@dmreg.com, on Twitter at @LeeRood, onFacebook and at DesMoinesRegister.com/ReadersWatchdog.