Tenants secure safe and affordable housing... for now

Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2006
by Mike Tabor

[...] The tenants had no attorney and didn't think they could afford one. The landlord, who failed to make basic as well as major repairs, wanted the tenants out of the rent-controlled apartments so he could convert them to high-priced condos. The tenants received a notice to vacate effective November 11th (see my October Voice column).

Then, pro-bono legal representation in the form of American University law professor, Jamin Raskin teamed up with Elrich and the tenant organization. Perhaps this is truly the season for miracles.

On December 19, Takoma Park's Commission on Landlord-Tenant Affairs (COLTA) ruled in favor of the tenants' association at 641 Houston Avenue, which had filed a complaint against the property's landlord, David Vichi and ZaZa Houston Corporation, for failing to fix a broken elevator for more than five months earlier this year. In its decision, COLTA described this prolonged elevator outage as a "defective tenancy" and awarded thousands of dollars in rental rebates to the tenants, who were forced to walk up and down the stairs in the six-story building through the spring and hot summer months of 2005.

At the contentious November 3 COLTA hearing on the case, the tenants' counsel, Raskin, called witness after witness to describe the hardship suffered by the tenants who were without elevator service for such a long period. The tenants, many of them elderly or suffering from different disabilities, had to carry groceries, furniture, children, and strollers up and down the non-air conditioned stairwells for more than twenty weeks.

Cortina White, who lives on the fifth floor, testified about the problems she had getting her four-year-old daughter up and down the stairs. Vicki Booker, who lives on the fourth floor, explained that her elderly mother was planning to spend the summer at her apartment but canceled because of the broken elevator. One elderly tenant died during this period and Raskin called her sister to testify about how difficult her final months in the building were.

The Commissioners--Peter Munger, Steve Wasser and Joanne Hill-- were apparently persuaded by such testimony. In their 15-page opinion, they write: "The Commission finds convincing the Tenants' testimony regarding the physical discomfort of climbing and descending the stairs, the inconvenience and wasted time necessary to transport groceries, laundry and other items to and from their units, the need to adjust their plans during the elevator outage to avoid hosting infirm guests or undergo medical procedures that would hinder their mobility, and the inconvenience of being unable to receivepackages at their units."

The landlord's attorney, Patrick McKeever, pointed out that, in a prior decision relating to a nearby property, 636 Houston Avenue, COLTA had found a landlord not liable for an elevator that was out of service for an even longer period. But Raskin countered that the landlord in that case had "clearly done everything in his power" to repair his broken elevator while ZaZa Houston "dragged its feet" and "went on a wild goose chase" to find a repair cheaper than simply replacing the elevator's foundation, as its contractor urged. ZaZa Houston finally ended up spending the money it had originally balked at spending and said it regretted its delay in "hindsight."

The Commission found that "the Landlord failed to make good faith efforts to have the elevator repaired" in April, May and June. It found its prior decision in the 636 Houston Ave. case "distinguishable" because the cause of delay in that incident was the need to wait for custom replacement parts to arrive and was out of the landlord's hands. At 641 Houston Ave., the "only cause of the delay" during a 3-month period, according to COLTA, "was the Landlord's financial concerns over the costs of the repair."

The Commission found that tenants on the sixth floor experienced a 60 percent reduction in the value of their tenancy during most of the outage and ordered the landlord to refund them 60 percent of the rent they paid during that period. The Commission also awarded the residents on the fifth floor 50 percent in rent rebates, fourth-floor tenants were awarded 40 percent,and so on. Residents of the first floor won nothing.

Raskin said this was "more than a little ironic." The leader of the tenants' group, Patricia Powell, lives on the first floor. "Pat organized everyone, inspired them, took in packages for people upstairs, helped the older people," Raskin said. "She kept them together and never doubted for a moment justice would be done. And she didn't even care about being left out of the award. This woman's whole life is about solidarity with other people. She's what Takoma Park and Silver Spring are all about."

Tenants were very excited about the judgment and award, which must be paid in full in 30 days. Some felt that the landlord should have to pay for the full period of the outage.

Meantime, while the elevator controversy simmered, the landlord at 641 Houston, David Vichi, tried to convert the building into a condominium. Raskin brought in friends from the Washington law firm of Arnold and Porter to help slow things down, and the team pointed out several flaws in the condo conversion that were first identified by the tenants.

The tenants and their lawyers are now working with Montgomery Housing Partners to take over the building and to preserve the rental option for the mostly low-income tenants. "We're very hopeful that a deal can be worked out," Raskin said. "It could be a win-win all around. Otherwise we're going to lose a lot of great people who have lived here for many years."

Raskin said that "we need a movement to educate tenants about their rights throughout Montgomery County. There are many violations of law taking place out there, and tenants have to get organized." Raskin said that he and Powell had been invited to address other tenants' associations in the area about how "to stand up for the rights of renters," and the two are planning a workshop.

But Raskin says everyone in the community should care about cases like this: "There's this slow-motion displacement going on of middle-income people like bus drivers, teachers, firefighters, independent consultants and secretaries. I remember what Crystal Pittman, one of the tenants, said to me one night, "It's so great that we finally have a Border's and all these fine restaurants and a booming nightlife in Silver Spring. But are the people who have been living here for the last 20 years going to be able to stick around to enjoy it?'"