A raccoon plopped down on a dining table from the ceiling. A dishwasher filled with sewage. An apartment floor soaked with sewer water.
These and other unsettling complaints from Austin tenants found an attentive ear at District 4 Council Member Greg Casar‘s office, which recently became a sort of hotline for distressed apartment dwellers navigating unsavory living conditions in the face of obstinate or even negligent landlords, who are exploiting residents amid an increasingly competitive and unaffordable rental market. It all started when residents at Stonegate Mobile Home Park community in North Central Austin voiced concern over uncooperative management, including a gentleman with cancer and his asthmatic son who suffered weeks without air conditioning – management told the man it was his responsibility (not theirs) to get it fixed.
Joined by Casar, residents then organized and marched down to the management’s office; within 24 hours the issue was fixed. Through his experience working in labor organizing, Casar says he has learned that when vulnerable individuals are cognizant of their rights, they then feel confident to demand justice. “Like workers, when lower-wage tenants are empowered, communicated with, and understand their rights and the resources at their disposal, they can and do speak up for themselves,” he says.
Since the public success with Stonegate, Casar’s office began to field calls every week from tenants hoping to see the same results (including the North Lamar Community Mobile Home Park; see “Casar Calls Out Landlords,” May 5). The modest staff, busy with the daily demands of Council life, realized their ability to assist would be limited.
Adding to the concern over local government’s efficacy in dealing with tenant complaints, a June report from the University of Texas School of Law’s Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic found the city has not been adequately identifying dangerous conditions at repeat offender properties and not doing enough to monitor or enforce the violations after they’ve been reported. The study discovered that while the Code Department set a 90-day deadline for repeat offenders to meet voluntary compliance, it takes an average of 159 days to address a code violation – and in many of those cases, the city is not holding them accountable.
That’s when Casar, District 5’s Ann Kitchen and D7’s Leslie Pool proposed creating a Residents’ Advocacy Project to provide education and outreach to empower tenants, and to encourage the city’s Law and Code Departments to pursue litigation, if necessary, to address “substandard and dangerous” rental properties, as well as persistent noncompliant short-term rentals. During September budget negotiations, the CMs succeeded in diverting $350,000 from the Code Department to fund the program, which will be administered through a (yet to be determined) nonprofit legal organization. While groups like the Austin Tenants’ Council have assisted renters for more than 25 years, their resources are strained (for instance, four ATC staff members take on about 1,000 clients a year) making additional community support more than welcome. “We are excited about the project,” says Kathy Stark, executive director of ATC. “Any money aimed at tenant education and advocacy is a wonderful thing.” Casar applauds ATC’s efforts but says as a city with progressive values, Austin is missing a strong infrastructure to promote tenant rights. “We need to do more beyond supporting an increase in tenants – we need to actively talk about their needs.”
This article appears in October 2 • 2015.