Every person needs a place to live. Landlords should not have the right to deny housing for any reason.
We also need more public housing and more co-op housing. And definitely corporate ownership of residential properties needs to be eliminated altogether.
This article is about Australia, but these blacklists need to be outlawed everywhere.
Was a wee bit upset about some other things, but the bulk of this letter is about renter's rights.
Dear BOA:
There is a lot of self-congratulations about this new “progressive” BOA, but your agenda and actions have so far been neo-liberal and performative. (“A more diverse status-quo with a few extra bones promised for the poorz!”)
Every April the citizens of St. Louis hear a lot of big promises from the BOA about the homeless crisis and the cold weather comes and nothing has happened.
This spring you say that you are going to make this the year of the renter by holding developers accountable. How many of you in addition to Browning got big checks and backing from GSL?
Browning's election came about because Tina Pihl went up against the all-powerful developers. (I was sorry to see her lose, but I also think she would have ended up having some sort of "heart attack" or "backhoe accident" if she’d won again. Since she isn't a sell out, I am glad she lives to fight other battles. She is a true leader, and fearless.)
Developers that are mostly in St Charles or St Louis County get all the city construction money, but it is lawyers, children of white-flighters, and “investors” (people that don’t actually work for a living) that get rich off of city rents.
In fact, city money, both public and private, mostly enriches people out in the counties. And we don’t get it back- not in income tax or sales tax.
The developers that own real estate get all those nice TIFs. Lawyers get rich off of city crime. (Someone who steals copper pipe gets $12 but their lawyer is going to get at least $400.) And section 8 only pays the tenant’s rent, but it buys the slumlords real estate and gives them passive income.
The tenant pays for everything - the mortgage, taxes, repairs, maintenance, AND providing the landlord with passive income. Sure, sometimes the landlord might have to pay out for a cleaning or repairs, and some landlords are "only" getting equity and do have to pay out of pocket at first for repairs... but they are getting that equity.
Even if you do manage to pass that bill requiring legal services for people that get evicted, what is that really going to do? Slow down the process? Judges and lawyers see each other at work in the courtroom and on the golf course and at the country club during leisure time. All those developers and investors, too. There are no protections for renters. No one is looking out for us.
We need real reform. We need truly progressive leadership and policy. There is a direct link between the lack of rent control and the swelling homeless population. Every month I wonder if I will be moving into my car? Will I be couch-surfing? Renting a storage locker? Getting a gym membership so I can shower? I am not alone. Rents keep going up and inflation keeps getting worse, and wages are stagnant.
My landlord didn't have to tell me when he sold the building. The new owners raised the rent, discontinued several services, and made everyone sign a new lease. Then they hired a truly predatory property management company, Deca. We have to pay their "mandatory benefits package" that "isn't rent" but is an extra $50 a month.
(You get some watered-down renter's insurance that they control and get the payout from, and they mail you a HVAC filter every ninety days. That's the benefits that are “mandatory”, but “not rent”.)
Deca uses Real Page, called a real estate "cartel" in a lawsuit against them in Texas.* They charge fees for everything. I've lived here almost 5 years, nothing has been done except the most necessary of repairs. The appliances, paint, and carpets were ancient when I moved in.
The HVAC is clogged and has never been cleaned. My water heater is from 1987, crazy rusted, and the iron pipes are so clogged that about every 18 months they must be snaked out from roof to sewer. And the water pressure? Yeah, the pipe bringing in water is for a single line, and it is shared with two other units. I get a trickle of hot water if anyone else is using it on my side of the building. And every faucet drips.
And the mailbox with broken locks that would be $300 to replace and that someone keeps opening official mail and stealing documents like passports? No, we can’t get that replaced.
But because I need to make sure that Emily and Ashley’s mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs and maintenance on the building are paid, and that Deca is paid both through them and also directly by the tenant, and give the landlord’s their passive income, my rent is raised again, $100 more a month, if I want to continue living in my home of five years.
You shouldn't need this letter from me to know that
developers aren’t even the issue when it comes to rents and tenants’ rights. (And
this letter is the second or third one I've sent you, and the mayor, about
these very issues. **) But here we go:
Ø Rent control. Increases cannot be more than Social Security
cost of living and wages, or lower.
Ø Rent commensurate with regional wages. And if the
property doesn't get the desired rent, landlords would be required to lower it
to attract tenants, with a cap above costs. (These two will also enlist
property owners in the fight for living wages with annual cost of living
increases.)
Ø Tenants gain equity.
Ø Landlord transparency: The property owner must be
clearly identified. If it is an LLC, trust, or any other organization or
entity, the board, officers, or trustees must be disclosed.
Ø Purchase price, mortgage, tax, insurance, and
utilities or any other bills that are the owner’s responsibility must be
available to prospective tenants. In other words, are they paying their bills?
Ø Repair work must be transparent- who performed it, if
they are licensed, and what the cost was.
Ø Property taxes on rental properties should not be
given any grace period. Property taxes fund schools.
Ø History of the unit- including repairs, occupancy
length, evictions, and any other legal issues.
Ø No national corporate ownership, and limits on the
amount and or value of residential properties a corporation can own.
Ø Limit on how much income property owners can receive
from Section 8.
Ø Section 8 buys some equity for the tenant.
Ø Local governments must provide tenants with an escrow
account where rents can be deposited for disputes and rent strikes.
Ø Damage deposits must be clearly stipulated and
transparent. If there is any dispute it must be disclosed to the tenant
before the tenant turns over the keys. The tenant must be given the opportunity
to fix the problem or both parties can choose to file it in court. Tenants must
be guaranteed a lawyer if needed.
The first thing on this list that the BOA needs to do
is set up an escrow account and get a district court to authorize rent strikes.
That alone would change many, many things in St. Louis, especially if Tenant
Unions were organized in tandem.
I’d also like to see full disclosure of those of you
that own residential rental properties.
(Actually, I want disclosure on all of your properties and any income
sources you have outside of your salaries.)
I want to know when I am dealing with a landlord that holds a position
of power in City Hall.
*
https://www.propublica.org/article/why-rent-is-so-high
Organizing rent strikes, effectiveness, general info
https://www.rent-strike.org/
https://www.communitybuildersstl.org/stories-and-news/it-is-time-for-tenant-organizing-in-st-louis
https://empowermissouri.org/building-power-in-community-tenant-unions-organizations-and-associations/
https://www.righttothecity.org/homes-for-all
https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol120/iss5/4/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/a3qg3k/do-rent-strikes-work
https://shelterforce.org/2018/07/30/tenant-power-organizing-for-rent-strikes-and-landlord-negotiations/
Current and recent rent strikes
Boise Idaho https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/local-failure-to-provide-safe-and-healthy-housing-tenants-sue-the-cambridge-square-apartments/277-ec00b672-53c0-491b-8564-7e7a25f74d2e
New York https://www.thenation.com/issue/april-17-24-2023-issue/
Denver https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/tenants-unions-living-conditions-picket-denver-management-company/
Kingston NY March 2023 Demand a citywide RENT DECREASE! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/07/new-york-housing-rent-costs-kingston-tenants
DC March 2023 https://dcist.com/story/23/03/01/dc-brightwood-park-rent-strike/
Manchester UK March 2023 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-65037590
Chicago January 2023 https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/logan-square-tenants-stage-rent-strike-after-two-weeks-of-failing-heat
Maryland December 2022 https://wearecasa.org/landlord-recalcitrance-pushes-11-tenants-to-rent-strike-in-bladensburg-maryland/
California (Veritas) March 2022 https://www.multifamilydive.com/news/california-based-tenant-union-gains-concessions-after-5-month-rent-strike/619795/
Harlem NY June 2022 https://www.legalservicesnyc.org/news-and-events/press-room/1817--harlem-tenants-announce-rent-strike-new-lawsuit-against-landlord-for-failing-to-repair-building-following-deadly-fire
Crown Heights (ongoing) November 2022 https://www.brooklynpaper.com/rent-strike-crown-heights-tenants-plan/
Crown Heights April 2022 https://www.brownstoner.com/real-estate-market/crown-heights-brooklyn-tenant-strike-chestnut-holdings-1392-1402-1408-sterling-place/
St louis rent strike 1969
Belt magazine https://beltmag.com/st-louis-rent-strike-1969/
Sage Journals https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0096144213516082
1907 Rent strike
https://jacobin.com/2021/12/nyc-1907-rent-strike-paulina-newman-east-side-housing
Pandemic
https://www.npr.org/local/305/2020/02/27/809935489/when-tenants-take-on-landlords-over-bad-conditions-a-rent-strike-explainer
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/07/rent-strike-faq/
https://theintercept.com/2020/04/25/coronavirus-rent-strike-may/
https://www.acceaction.org/rentstrike
STL -- https://www.yahoo.com/now/st-louis-tenants-organizing-rent-015358765.html
MISC
The Odd Couple did a rent strike episode, who knew? https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0664307/
There is a band called Rent strike https://www.rentstrikenow.com/about
Forest Park SouthEast has an excellent guide to organizing tenant unions and rent strikes.
https://www.forestparksoutheast.com/st-louis-renter-rights-organizing-toolkit/
In their list of resources, they did forget Open Corporates. Many landlords are LLC or other orgs and go to great lengths to disguise their holdings.
OpenCorporates :: The Open Database Of The Corporate World
Wikipedia has a good history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent_strike
One thing you can always do is write your Mayor and local elected officials (council or alderpersons) and ask them to set up an escrow account through the courts for tenants and tenant unions to deposit withheld rent.
They aren't rent, but they are mandatory. And it really is just another way for landlords to keep more of your money as income. Other than an air filter every 90 days, there is no real gain. They also require you to use their renter's insurance and name them on the policy, and they require more than the City does, and since the reduction is only $10 if you have your own, many people will use theirs only to find out that- surprise!- they don't actually get any benefit from it!
See the images below for the agreements themselves. There is really nothing in them that you can't get elsewhere - for example, almost every bank has identity protection. Rent reporting you can
But these fees allow property managers and landlords the extra income to write garbage like this
Why you should offer a resident benefits package | Buildium
And they offer the landlords cash incentives to allow these charges to tenants. (Not that most landlords give a care about their tenants anyhow.)
How To Increase Revenue With A Resident Benefits Package 1 | Latchel
I've been posting in social media groups about this and not surprised to find these predatory fees are prevalent in another red state:
"Yep, we have those in Texas too. Our
old apartment "rent" was 1530 + 20 resident benefit, so rent was
1550. The benefit was basically that they mailed us a new air filter every
month"
Deca will not tell you about them until you get the lease. They only tell you the rent.
It is worth reading the Pro Publica series on Real Page, the software that Deca and other predatory property managers and landlords use.
Real Page is one of the main reasons rents are so high and that so many predatory practices have become commonplace. They have been called a "landlord cartel" by lawmakers.
https://www.propublica.org/series/rent-barons
Also worth listening to this podcast on the series from Behind the Bastards.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/behind-the-bastards/id1373812661?i=1000585476273
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0802247653 (the home office, and who you must make a beneficiary of your renter's insurance)
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_mo/LC1713416 (the local office)
These are my actual landlords, more on my story later
https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_mo/LC1792853
The One Minute Revolution: RENTER’S RIGHTS
AND FAIR HOUSING
The tenant pays for everything: mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs, AND provides free income and equity for the owner. Yet renters have almost no rights. In a truly fair world, every renter would gain equity, and all rentals would be like condos, or rent to own. Here are some things we can start demanding now.
Ø Rent control. Increases cannot be more than Social Security cost of
living and wages, or lower.
Ø Rent commensurate with regional wages. And if the property doesn't
get the desired rent, landlords would be required to lower it to attract
tenants, with a cap above costs. (These two will also enlist property owners in
the fight for living wages with annual cost of living increases.)
Ø Tenants gain equity.
Ø Landlord transparency: The property owner must be clearly
identified. If it is an LLC, trust, or any other organization or entity, the
board, officers, or trustees must be disclosed.
Ø Purchase price, mortgage, tax, insurance, and utilities or any other
bills that are the owner’s responsibility must be available to prospective
tenants. In other words, are they paying their bills?
Ø Repair work must be transparent- who performed it, if they are
licensed, and what the cost was.
Ø Property taxes on rental properties should not be given any grace period.
Property taxes fund schools.
Ø History of the unit-
including repairs, occupancy length, evictions, and any other legal issues.
Ø No national corporate
ownership, and limits on the amount and or value of residential properties a
corporation can own.
Ø Limit on how much income property owners can receive from Section 8.
Ø Section 8 buys some equity
for the tenant.
Ø Local governments must
provide tenants with an escrow account where rents can be deposited for
disputes and rent strikes.
Ø Damage deposits must be clearly stipulated and transparent. If there is any dispute it must be disclosed
to the tenant before the tenant turns over the keys. The tenant must be given
the opportunity to fix the problem or both parties can choose to file in court.
Tenants must be guaranteed a lawyer if needed.
Given the current situation with
out-of-control rents and corporations buying all the residential property, a
city-wide or nationwide rent strike to demand some or all the above would not
be unreasonable.
Do you have one minute today to call or
write your Mayor/Alderperson/Council Member about Fair Housing and Renter’s
Rights?
