Thursday, July 9, 2009
City Ask and You Shall Receive
Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 11:25 PM
Earlier this week, the Tenants Union of Washington State—which, among other things, provides legal advice to renters dealing with landlords trying to illegally evict them—was in dire straits:
Last year, King County slashed funding to human services from the 2009 budget to manage a $93 million deficit. The county sustained the Tenants Union and a handful of other organizations in a "lifeboat" through the end of June, but that funding has run out. Board members realized that if they don't raise $25,000 by July 16—which would keep the Tenants Union afloat through the end of the year while they find new funding—they will be forced to dissolve the organization.
Board members have been scrambling to raise the dough, holding "raise the rent" parties and contacting the press to get out the word. And about an hour ago, the tenants union posted this note:
On July 8th the TU received an anonymous, amazingly generous, gift of $25,000. This, with all the other generous gifts people have given (more than $17,000!), puts us safely over the emergency baseline goal of raising $25,000 by July 16th. Now we know we can stay open, and we can dive into the hard work of strategically rebuilding the organization and sustaining the movement for housing justice.
Buckets of kudos to the anonymous donor, the board, and several local writers who covered the TU's struggle to stay afloat.
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1
As the former manager of a large apartment complex I am betting this money was donated by a developer or property management company. Many of us landlords actually support the tenants union and groups of organized residents. They're a critical source of information about tenant rights and lease legalities that is non-biased.
The Tenants Union can act as honest mediators in disputes and help renters understand why some of their lawsuits are frivolous.
The Tenants Union can act as honest mediators in disputes and help renters understand why some of their lawsuits are frivolous.
2
Illegally evict someone? Huh? What would be an example of that? To give the tenant the benefit of the doubt, let's say the tenant has NEVER EVER missed a rent payment, they have NEVER EVER broken the terms of the lease, and they always talk with the landlord when there are issues the landlord needs to know about. So what is an illegal eviction?
4
Too bad other organizations don't have this kind of leadership and transparency that gives donors confidence (Home Alive).
5
@2: Can't tell if you're serious or not, but the Tenants Union has a page on that with some examples:
http://tenantsunion.org/rights/4/Avoidin…
Illegal evictions would be, for instance, a landlord attempting to carry out the eviction himself by changing the locks or removing your property without your consent. He has no legal right to do so, and must have law enforcement officers carry out any forcibel eviction that's necessary.
The other one that you hear about frequently is a landlord attempting to terminate a lease early because he wants to remodel or repurpose the property.
Anyway, yes, while a lot of evictions are caused by very clear lease violations that aren't open to dispute, there's still a legal process that landlords have to follow. An "illegal eviction" is when the landlord doesn't follow that process.
http://tenantsunion.org/rights/4/Avoidin…
Illegal evictions would be, for instance, a landlord attempting to carry out the eviction himself by changing the locks or removing your property without your consent. He has no legal right to do so, and must have law enforcement officers carry out any forcibel eviction that's necessary.
The other one that you hear about frequently is a landlord attempting to terminate a lease early because he wants to remodel or repurpose the property.
Anyway, yes, while a lot of evictions are caused by very clear lease violations that aren't open to dispute, there's still a legal process that landlords have to follow. An "illegal eviction" is when the landlord doesn't follow that process.
6
@ 4: Sarcasm or serious? I can't tell. I'm so sorry, I honestly don't know.
Yeah, if the donation was from a . . . developer or prop. mmgt co. (had to look at it for a sec there), then that's pretty fishy and they need to think about whether to take it or not.
Also, 25k is a pretty penny. Schools would love a donation like that. (Just sayin' . . . )
Yeah, if the donation was from a . . . developer or prop. mmgt co. (had to look at it for a sec there), then that's pretty fishy and they need to think about whether to take it or not.
Also, 25k is a pretty penny. Schools would love a donation like that. (Just sayin' . . . )
7
@6: The donor was anonymous. That means they prefer to not be known. So, regardless of who it was, their interest is in the survival of the organization, not influencing it to their ends.
And as already mentioned, good landlords are in no way at odds with organizations like this. Yes, tenants' rights organizations will help you fight landlords who are trying to screw you over, but they are also a good third-party resource for information about what rights tenants have and, just as important, do not have. Their goal is to help tenants resolve issues intelligently and responsibly, and that is something that benefits everyone involved.
And, yes, the list of other deserving charities is long. So the fuck what? "just sayin'" isn't good enough.
And as already mentioned, good landlords are in no way at odds with organizations like this. Yes, tenants' rights organizations will help you fight landlords who are trying to screw you over, but they are also a good third-party resource for information about what rights tenants have and, just as important, do not have. Their goal is to help tenants resolve issues intelligently and responsibly, and that is something that benefits everyone involved.
And, yes, the list of other deserving charities is long. So the fuck what? "just sayin'" isn't good enough.
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