Residents of Willard Street Apartments and nearby Ashton Place in downtown Durham formed tenant unions Thursday to fight against what they contend are poor management and shoddy building maintenance practices.
The newly formed Willard Street United and Ashton Seniors in Action tenant unions held a joint press conference to demand that their shared landlord formally recognize the unions and commit to quarterly meet-and-confer sessions.
Bill Thompson (Photo:Greg Childress/NC Newsline)“All we’re asking for is more clear, transparent communication, and security for the ladies,” said Bill Thompson, an Ashton Place tenant.
Both apartment complexes are owned by Downtown Home Improvement Corporation Inc. (DHIC), a Raleigh-based nonprofit affordable housing developer, and managed by Community Management Corporation.
Yolanda Winstead, president of DHIC, said the nonprofit is “committed to open and ongoing dialogue with residents.”
“We welcome opportunities to listen, learn, and work together on issues affecting the community,” Winstead said in an email to NC Newsline.
“Representatives of any association that residents choose to form” are welcome to take part in residents’ meetings, she said, “as members of the tenants’ union did earlier this month.”
During Thursday’s press conference, tenants from both apartment buildings shared longstanding grievances against DHIC and the buildings management company. They complained the management company is slow to make repairs, and when they do, it is usually poorly done.
Cleanliness and safety are also concerns, the tenants said.
Cynthia Hoskins (Photo:Greg Childress/NC Newsline)“We all worked our long lives to get to where we are and to live safe and clean,” said Cynthia Hoskins, a Willard Street Apartment resident. “We shouldn’t have to worry about whether this is gonna be fixed or whether that’s gonna be fixed.”
Debra Davies, an Ashton Place resident, said that if she hears management say they’ll “look into it” one more time, she’s going to scream.
Debra Davies (Photo: Greg Childress/NC Newsline)“It’s been a battle to get the basic things done,” Davies said. “We’re not asking for huge issues. It’s just the basics and that’s what we’re having problems with.”
Davies contends shoddy maintenance contributed to her son’s death.
As NC Newsline previously reported, Davies’ son, Jason Pulliam, died in an incident in the apartment building after suffering heart failure. An electronic door to a laundry malfunctioned, which slowed tenants’ ability to render aid, Davies contends. When emergency responders arrived, it was too late to save Pulliam.
The new unions will be part of the North Carolina Tenants Union, which is a statewide union of local unions.
C.R. Clark (Photo: Greg Childress/NC Newsline)C.R. Clark with the Triangle Tenant Union, which is also part of the state union, helped tenants organize.
“They have spent years suffering mismanagement, disrepair, deterioration, mistreatment by staff and ongoing threats to their health and safety in these two publicly subsidized buildings,” Clark said.
Nick MacLeod, who leads the statewide union, said the group is organizing similar unions in 15 buildings across the state.
N.C. Tenants Union executive director Nick MacLeod. (File Photo)“Tenants are forming these unions to protect themselves and their families from dangerous conditions caused by landlords’ lack of repairs, dramatically rising rents and unprecedented displacement pressure,” MacLeod said.
MacLeod noted that the state’s landlord-tenant laws lack basic protections. He said tenants are sometimes forced to pay rent even when living in dangerous, uninhabitable conditions, and sometimes face evictions without cause and “rent gouging” without recourse.
“By working together with their neighbors and leveraging their political and economic power, tenants can win the repairs they need and the stability they and their families deserve,” MacLeod said.
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