Three long-vacant, deteriorating properties in Shaw owned by Shiloh Baptist Church should be repaired or razed by the D.C. government at the expense of the congregation, a city board ruled Wednesday.

Three more Shiloh-owned town houses on Eighth and Ninth streets NW, each in various stages of disrepair, were condemned during a meeting of the Board of Condemnation of Unsanitary Buildings.

Shiloh owns about a dozen vacant properties in Shaw that neighbors complain are magnets for criminals, drug users, litter and vermin.

Years of debate between residents and the church have yielded no progress.

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Little repair work was performed on the homes at 1532, 1534 and 1536 Ninth St. since they were condemned last month, said Hubert Johnson, program manager in the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs’ building condemnation division.

As a consequence, the board ordered DCRA to make the improvements or knock the buildings down, and then place a lien on the properties for the cost.

“If they beat the city to it, so much the better,” Timothy Dennee, the board’s representative from the Historic Preservation Office, said of Shiloh.

Shiloh Minister Thomas Bowen said Wednesday the church will have the work done, but he couldn’t offer further details.

In a June 12 letter to DCRA, church administrator Charles Randolph said Shiloh has executed a contract with a construction company for major repairs to the roofs, gutters, down spouts, masonry and chimneys.

But the letter did not indicate the contract had been signed, nor did it mention a start date, Johnson said.

Bowen last month said the church wants to convert the properties into senior housing. Mayor Adrian Fenty, meanwhile, said the city’s top priority is to ensure the homes are safe and presentable “and to have them redeveloped.”

The board also took steps to condemn three additional Shiloh-owned town houses: 1528 9th St., 1600 8th St. and 1543 8th St.

At 1600, Johnson said, pigeons have been seen flying in and out of the third floor of the home.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com