Member Story: Evictions are a health crisis; We were forced out of our home just before the Stay-at-Home orders
Shortly before the pandemic even hit, my family’s safety and health felt threatened because the conditions of the rental home were neglected by our landlord.
In the two years of residency, we asked for repairs we got placated with “later”, “coming soon”, or no response at all. We had a dead tree in the front yard that kept dropping branches, until eventually the entire tree was uprooted! It stayed, laying on our rental, for three days before anyone came to remove it. We were forced to live without a functioning heater in my daughter’s bedroom for nearly two years; he only repaired it a week before inspectors were scheduled to visit for a required inspection as per a Lakewood ordinance. Another time, the living room flooded and soaked my mattress. Our landlord did nothing to repair the area where the flooding happened. When our landlord’s landscapers popped our inflatable summer pool, he refused to respond to our request to cover the cost, and just left our text message on read. The laundry rooms were in disgusting disarray, the floorboards were rotted and the floor was sunken in from over a year of flooding from previous tenants. When he tried to repair the laundry room the first time, he left the machines outside for two weeks and they no longer worked after that. The flooding continued for another year before he made repairs right before the required inspection. My husband is a Carpenter’s Union Journeyman and noticed many instances where the landlord was buying cheaply, incorrect posts to use to fix the subflooring, too. On top of that, our landlord never gave us any method of contact, such as an address or online portal for work orders, so all we could do was text him. One night while he was repairing the laundry room before the inspection, I asked him for his address so that I could send written orders in. He gave me a PO Box.
Then he issued an eviction notice -- not because we were bad tenants, but because he wanted to use this opportunity to make more money: renovate. Apparently it wasn’t worthwhile to invest in the property for the well-being of us as tenants, instead, he hopes only to generate more profit. He issued the eviction notice the day after I asked for his address, after having already evicted our neighboring tenants and subjecting us to the repairs he was doing on the next door unit into all hours of the evening, and after reassuring me we wouldn’t be out of a home at least until the summer. He also only issued us 60 days to vacate, which is half of the legally required notice for renovations.
We were devastated when we got the notice that would upend our home, and our landlord has faced no accountability for leaving our home unsafe and destroying our personal possessions. Landlords should have basic standards of accountability applied to their work that requires them to keep homes healthy for renters. I thought that a Warranty of Habitability would be enforced, but all of the city inspectors, all of the city employees, and the police could not help us with justice. We have been staying in a hotel ever since.
Renters shouldn’t fear they’ll be evicted when they ask their landlord for repairs. We all need healthy and safe housing and it’s reasonable to make this a legal requirement for landlords’ businesses. Landlords should be held accountable so they can’t just do what they wish at our expense. One first step is for our electeds to pass Good Cause Evictions Protections, which prevents landlords from evicting tenants without good cause. This gives renters the power to demand accountability from their landlord without fearing they’ll be evicted. To protect renters who are going up against slumlords, our electeds need to pass Good Cause Eviction Protections. Renters of Washington deserve rights, and accountability from our officials as well.
Ashleigh Connor and her family lived in Lakeview before being pushed out of their housing in February. Now they’re staying at a hotel in Tacoma. She’s a stay-at-home mom and is a proud community volunteer and advocate for abolition. This story is crossposted on WARentersUnite.org