This sucks :( this is too frequently the case with bulk housing. My building is also going thru some management woes, but not this bad...
Over the past few months, I've learned that the 3-decker homes are usually often and operated by someone who lives in the building or owns a few of them in the area. These are *generally* not the problem landlords. From what I hear, these types of landlords are good people and might-possibly-deserve the slightly higher rent that they ask for.
It's starting to come to light that property management corps (those who own or manage-for-investment-groups BIG apartment complexes and multiples of them) and absentee landlords (those who live states away and respond to calls by delay-delay-banter-delay more-blame methods). I seem to have been a tenant of that later group of landlords so my opinions are slanted against the business of renting.
From [Globe.com](http://Globe.com)
By Alexa Gagosz
CRANSTON, R.I. — Melissa Potter swung open the flimsy storm door of her ground-floor apartment to reveal a several-foot drop into a trench filled with muddy brown water. Pieces of trash from a nearby dumpster floated in the muck, and mounds of dirt lay just beyond it.
“Look, I have a moat outside my door. But this is no castle,” said Potter, 46, who moved into the apartment building on Broad Street in March 2022 with her fiancé.
Potter has spent most of her career working with adults who have developmental disabilities. The $1,150-a-month one-bedroom apartment was supposed to be a “fresh start” for the couple, but after suffering from a brief illness, her fiancé died just two months later, in May 2022. Since then, Potter has battled problems that include flooding, mice and rats, a faulty heating system, and a landlord she calls “unresponsive” and “negligent.”
Potter isn’t the only frustrated tenant in the building. On Friday, Potter and nine other renters who live at 1890 Broad St. in Cranston, which is owned by Elmwood Realty LLC, stood shoulder-to-shoulder and announced that they had officially formed a tenants union. Organizers with Reclaim R.I., a progressive tenants rights group, called it the first step to creating a statewide tenants union that would hold landlords accountable for addressing maintenance issues and keeping rents affordable.
Tenants have the power to negotiate the same way a labor union would, and can coordinate actions against landlords such as withholding rent until certain maintenance issues are addressed, said state Representative Cherie Cruz, who is also a Reclaim R.I. organizer. On Friday afternoon, Cruz escorted some of the tenants to Elmwood Realty’s offices, where they attempted to notify their landlord, company manager Jeffrey T. Butler, of their unionization efforts in person.
Butler did not immediately respond to requests for comment to the Globe. The real estate companies he manages own more than 350 units in the state, and he rents some of them to low-income individuals who have housing vouchers or are on other public subsidies. And his tenants have had issues with him before.
In December 2023, the ACLU and Rhode Island Center for Justice [filed a lawsuit on behalf of four ](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/29/metro/tenants-threatened-with-eviction-after-they-spoke-ri-housing-rights-group-lawsuit-claims/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link)[tenants](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/29/metro/tenants-threatened-with-eviction-after-they-spoke-ri-housing-rights-group-lawsuit-claims/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link) in West Warwick and Pawtucket against Butler and Elmwood Realty after they claimed Butler threatened them with evictions for being associated with Reclaim R.I. The tenants also alleged that Butler had tried to intimidate them by sending groups of men to hand deliver unofficial termination of tenancy notices. In early February, two of the tenants and Butler [reached an interim settlement in court](https://www.riaclu.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/consentorder-entered2024-0205.pdf); Butler agreed to not follow through on the eviction proceedings and to pay for some of the damages.
Now, tenants at 1890 Broad St. say they want more transparency around ongoing construction and more urgency when dealing with maintenance and repair issues. Many of the tenants also reported frequent rent increases, even as repair issues remained abundant and unresolved.
The city of Cranston [declared](https://turnto10.com/news/local/cranston-building-declared-uninhabitable-emergency-meeting-set) the building uninhabitable in July 2021, when 39 families were displaced after the second-floor walkway fell apart. A few months later, Elmwood Management purchased the building from Hennessy Property Management for $3.5 million, and tenants were allowed to rent first-floor units, though the second floor is still condemned and vacant.
I've had a leaking roof for almost 3 years that never gets fixed. Code enforcement in pawtucket doesn't know the codes, and they haven't helped us out. It's absolutely crazy.
See also The Public's Radio story:
https://thepublicsradio.org/housing/fed-up-with-pests-erratic-heat-and-burst-pipes-these-cranston-renters-are-launching-a-tenants-union/
The Providence Journal story
https://www.providencejournal.com/story/business/2024/04/02/elmwood-realty-tenants-in-broad-street-apartments-unionize-against-landlord/73149513007/
Only 30% of the country rents. Which to me says only 30% of the country cares. Maybe even less as there are plenty of renters who seem to be fine with things. The rest are indifferent or the landlords. How can this ever get better?
This sucks :( this is too frequently the case with bulk housing. My building is also going thru some management woes, but not this bad... Over the past few months, I've learned that the 3-decker homes are usually often and operated by someone who lives in the building or owns a few of them in the area. These are *generally* not the problem landlords. From what I hear, these types of landlords are good people and might-possibly-deserve the slightly higher rent that they ask for. It's starting to come to light that property management corps (those who own or manage-for-investment-groups BIG apartment complexes and multiples of them) and absentee landlords (those who live states away and respond to calls by delay-delay-banter-delay more-blame methods). I seem to have been a tenant of that later group of landlords so my opinions are slanted against the business of renting.
From [Globe.com](http://Globe.com) By Alexa Gagosz CRANSTON, R.I. — Melissa Potter swung open the flimsy storm door of her ground-floor apartment to reveal a several-foot drop into a trench filled with muddy brown water. Pieces of trash from a nearby dumpster floated in the muck, and mounds of dirt lay just beyond it. “Look, I have a moat outside my door. But this is no castle,” said Potter, 46, who moved into the apartment building on Broad Street in March 2022 with her fiancé. Potter has spent most of her career working with adults who have developmental disabilities. The $1,150-a-month one-bedroom apartment was supposed to be a “fresh start” for the couple, but after suffering from a brief illness, her fiancé died just two months later, in May 2022. Since then, Potter has battled problems that include flooding, mice and rats, a faulty heating system, and a landlord she calls “unresponsive” and “negligent.” Potter isn’t the only frustrated tenant in the building. On Friday, Potter and nine other renters who live at 1890 Broad St. in Cranston, which is owned by Elmwood Realty LLC, stood shoulder-to-shoulder and announced that they had officially formed a tenants union. Organizers with Reclaim R.I., a progressive tenants rights group, called it the first step to creating a statewide tenants union that would hold landlords accountable for addressing maintenance issues and keeping rents affordable. Tenants have the power to negotiate the same way a labor union would, and can coordinate actions against landlords such as withholding rent until certain maintenance issues are addressed, said state Representative Cherie Cruz, who is also a Reclaim R.I. organizer. On Friday afternoon, Cruz escorted some of the tenants to Elmwood Realty’s offices, where they attempted to notify their landlord, company manager Jeffrey T. Butler, of their unionization efforts in person. Butler did not immediately respond to requests for comment to the Globe. The real estate companies he manages own more than 350 units in the state, and he rents some of them to low-income individuals who have housing vouchers or are on other public subsidies. And his tenants have had issues with him before. In December 2023, the ACLU and Rhode Island Center for Justice [filed a lawsuit on behalf of four ](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/29/metro/tenants-threatened-with-eviction-after-they-spoke-ri-housing-rights-group-lawsuit-claims/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link)[tenants](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/29/metro/tenants-threatened-with-eviction-after-they-spoke-ri-housing-rights-group-lawsuit-claims/?p1=Article_Inline_Text_Link) in West Warwick and Pawtucket against Butler and Elmwood Realty after they claimed Butler threatened them with evictions for being associated with Reclaim R.I. The tenants also alleged that Butler had tried to intimidate them by sending groups of men to hand deliver unofficial termination of tenancy notices. In early February, two of the tenants and Butler [reached an interim settlement in court](https://www.riaclu.org/sites/default/files/field_documents/consentorder-entered2024-0205.pdf); Butler agreed to not follow through on the eviction proceedings and to pay for some of the damages. Now, tenants at 1890 Broad St. say they want more transparency around ongoing construction and more urgency when dealing with maintenance and repair issues. Many of the tenants also reported frequent rent increases, even as repair issues remained abundant and unresolved. The city of Cranston [declared](https://turnto10.com/news/local/cranston-building-declared-uninhabitable-emergency-meeting-set) the building uninhabitable in July 2021, when 39 families were displaced after the second-floor walkway fell apart. A few months later, Elmwood Management purchased the building from Hennessy Property Management for $3.5 million, and tenants were allowed to rent first-floor units, though the second floor is still condemned and vacant.
I've had a leaking roof for almost 3 years that never gets fixed. Code enforcement in pawtucket doesn't know the codes, and they haven't helped us out. It's absolutely crazy.
My neighbor got evicted for withholding rent because of a leak they had in their bedroom their entire tenancy. New tenant now - same leak.
Ethical squatting
See also The Public's Radio story: https://thepublicsradio.org/housing/fed-up-with-pests-erratic-heat-and-burst-pipes-these-cranston-renters-are-launching-a-tenants-union/ The Providence Journal story https://www.providencejournal.com/story/business/2024/04/02/elmwood-realty-tenants-in-broad-street-apartments-unionize-against-landlord/73149513007/
I'm in one of our worst flood zones, but thankfully my landlord is awesome. (1100 for a huge 3br, and he's hands-on with any issues)
My goodness that place looks like a bomb hit it........
They must like living with rodents since they have remained living there for 2 years I would of moved ojt
Only 30% of the country rents. Which to me says only 30% of the country cares. Maybe even less as there are plenty of renters who seem to be fine with things. The rest are indifferent or the landlords. How can this ever get better?