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3202 N. Nebraska Ave.
Description: 3,450 square feet; 2-story duplex; deteriorating wood frame.
Beds: 26 downstairs, 14 upstairs.
Major problems: No hot water or smoke etectors, inoperable bathroom and kitchen faucets, insufficient toilets.

TAMPA - Unsafe electrical wiring at six Deeper Life Christian Church-owned houses must be repaired by Sunday or code inspectors will shut them down.
If the repairs aren't made, the church could face legal action, city officials said Thursday. That could include the arrest of its founder, Bishop Melvin B. Jefferson, and his wife, Brenda, a church pastor.

At a minimum, Deeper Life will have to close the houses and relocate any residents if the repairs are not completed and inspected by a licensed contractor by the deadline.

Additional plumbing and other sanitary repairs must be completed by Tuesday.

And, code officials said in a report written Wednesday, the second story of one house at 806 E. Adalee St. is ``unfit and uninhabitable'' and must be vacated immediately.

If charges are filed, they would be second- degree misdemeanors punishable by a maximum fine of $500, six months' probation and up to 60 days in the county jail, assistant city attorney David Shobe Jr. said

``We're not going to put anybody out on the street,'' said William D. Doherty, deputy director of the city's Department of Code Enforcement. ``But we're certainly going to expedite getting them out of a hazardous - or what we consider - an unsafe situation.

``Whether it takes arresting church officials,'' Doherty said, ``we may do it.''

No permits for the work had been obtained for the properties as of late Thursday, records showed.

The houses, all within walking distance of the church - off Nebraska Avenue between Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard and Palm Avenue - have multiple safety and health violations, city code enforcement director Curtis Lane said.

All the houses lack heat or air conditioning, according to inspection reports. Five lack working smoke detectors and need immediate extermination for rodents or insects, or both. Five have inoperable or missing faucets. Two lack working toilets. Two lack hot water.

``We're very sensitive to the tenants in this case,'' Lane said. ``We're not going to victimize them any further.''

In The Neighborhood

The church owns about a dozen other properties in the neighborhood. Many have been cited for lesser violations, but not all house church members, records show.

The Tampa Tribune, in a partnership with WFLA, News Channel 8, highlighted living conditions of church residents earlier this week as part of a three-day investigative series, ``The Price of Their Redemption.''

Deeper Life historically has given refuge to the people others don't want - the homeless, drug and alcohol addicts, and petty criminals just out of jail.

They stay in church housing for free. In return, they are required to complete a rigid 30-day indoctrination of daily Bible classes and church services, and then are encouraged to help raise donations for Deeper Life. They are also often berated and threatened with eternal damnation if they do not give enough during services.

They are not allowed to leave the houses at night. Many are locked in as part of a curfew, former members say. Most of the houses were designed for single families but sleep more than 20 people.

City inspection records show that of the six houses, none had fewer than five beds. One house with two stories and 3,450 square feet of living space had 40 beds, according to inspection reports.

Calls to church officials and Jefferson's attorney, Dennis G. Brewer Sr. of Dallas, were not returned Thursday.

Jefferson blamed church members for the condition of the housing in an interview in August.

``It's the people we deal with. They are something else,'' Jefferson said. ``They tear the houses up, and then we have to constantly go in and redo the houses. When you take people from the street, they have no type of morals, and they'll just tear those houses up.''

As many as 600 live in church-owned housing, Jefferson added. But how many lived in the six houses affected by this week's actions could not be determined.

Crackdown's Causes

Lane said that the city's crackdown was due, in part, to the stories in the Tribune and on WFLA. He said he also received a phone call in August from someone telling him about living conditions at several church-owned houses.

A code enforcement inspector attempted to check out the complaint but was denied entry.

Sunday, the inspector returned to the properties and gave the church three days to contact the city or face action.

Wednesday, the inspector was allowed into the six houses and immediately labeled each one an ``emergency,'' according to inspection documents.

``One adjective [the inspector] used was `nasty,' '' Lane said.

Almost all the houses were cited for having faulty or broken electrical outlets. Many were missing window screens and had holes in the walls, floors and ceilings. A number lacked working light fixtures. And others lacked the required number of working outlets in rooms used for sleeping and cooking.

One house was cited for having a refrigerator outside on a porch. It was connected to an indoor electrical outlet by an extension cord.

The city could have closed the houses immediately, had the problems been deemed an immediate threat to health or safety, Lane said.

But Deeper Life's houses aren't at that point, Lane said.

``If we felt it was,'' Doherty said, ``we'd be over there right now.''

Reporter Michelle Bearden and Tribune researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Staff writer John Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915; Michael Fechter at (813) 259-7621.

http://tampatrib.com/nationworldnews/MGA8ACKN1LD.html