Pag* 14, AC Phoenix, March, 1992
PHOENIX OP-ED,
Continued
Legal Aid, Tenant Responsibilities,
Continued from Previous Page
rent for shoddy and squalor living
quarters. Sure, there are cases
where the city’s housing codes
department has found numerous
violations in rental property. But,
what happens when an individual
destroys the property that belongs
to an investor? And how does the
investor recoupe his losses.
Quite frankly, someone has to
provide housing for those members
of our community who cannot
afford to purchase a place of their
own. The federal and local
governments have done an
outstanding job of providing
affordable housing for many
members of the community. Still a
void does exist. Someone has to fill
that void. Some people or groups
might have the altruistic desire to
provide housing for the remaining
portion of our society. But, the
reality is that only the private sector
can really take up the slack.
Looking at it from a totally
economic view then, investors are
attempting to maximize the return
on their investments. That also
means, then, that individuals want
to get as much income from their
investment as possible.
The picture painted by many
people of the landlord, particularly
in East Winston, is that of a person
wanting to do little for the tenant
while receiving as much as possible
in rent each month. In some cases
that ver^^vell could be true. But if
an individual has an investment of
$25-50,000, they’re going to make
sure that the property doesn’t lose
its value over a period of time.
With the recent legal maneuveipg
by Legal Aid, many landlords find
it difficult to even collect monthly
rental payments. The situation has
forced many investors to band
together into a group, Forsyth
County Property Owners Assoc
iation, to suppiort the rights of the
rental property owner.
From an objective standpoint, the
situation of the property owners
does merit consideration. Who goes
out to give the property a clean bill
of health and how do you monitor
the amount of abuse inflicted upon
property by tenants? There really is
nothing in place to monitor that
situation.
On the other side of the coin, why
would an individual allow the
property that he or she rents to
become run-down?
Some landlords say that when
code violations are found, the
tenants believe they will not be
forced to pay rent. So in some
cases, they deliberately do damage
to their housing units. By the same
token, tenants say that landlords
expect unfair rental payments for
inferior units.
The answers to these questions
are beyond the scope of this
writing. However, we should look
at the situation that results from
these problems.
Do the members of the Legal Aid
Society have a vested interest in the
community, particularly East Win
ston? Are these well-trained
attorneys putting notches in their
legal belts or are they genuinely
concerned about the genei^ welfare
of the people they represent? Also,
what type of background checks do
they run on the individuals to see
the kind of housing track records
they have?
A quick perusal of the areas in
question leaves one with a
viewpoint Examine the area on the
east side of town between 21st and
25th Streets. You can’t help but
notice the number of units that are
boarded up. These houses are
empty while the city has to deal
with hundreds of homeless families
Ask a real estate agent and they’ll
quickly offer an answer. People are
afraid to invest money and time into
these units when there is no
guarantee they’ll receive a return on
their investment.
Being Poor Is No Excuse,
Continued from Previous Page
Cameron Avenue, into another
shack across from Atkins High
School. But, again, you could
always spot her place among the
others. I marvell^ at her constant
batde not to keep up with the poor
Joneses around her. But, the quality
of her life-how she lived, not where
she lived-was important to her
spiritual well-being.
Urban redevelopment again
chased Grandma around to 14th
Street, near where Hooper’s
Funeral Home is now, and finally
to the low-income senior citizens
community on Highway 311 where
she currently lives.
When I drive through some of the
areas that have been developed or
redeveloped in East Winston over
the last 30-40 years and notice that
what started out as new low-cost
housing has managed to deteriorate,
I have to ask whether the fault is
with .the landlord, be it public
housing or privately-owned pro
perty, or with the tenant. I adtfiress
the tenant/landlord situation be
cause, despite programs designed to
encourage affordable single-family
homeownership, a dispropo^rtionate
number of house-holds live in rent^
houses or apartments. And when it
comes to who should take the
blame, there is enough to go around
on both sides.
The Role of the Landlord
Landlords, like any other bus
iness owners, should recognize two
things. First, rental property is an
investment. Second, any physical
investment must be regularly and
routinely maintained. Setting up a
specific program for preventative
maintenance can go a long way
towards minimizing tenant prob
lems and repair or replacement
costs.
Part of protecting an investment is
to know as much as possible about
the person using it and insist that
tenants respect your property and
honor responsibilities as spelled out
in contractual agreement, whether
formally documented or by way of
an oral contract. This includes
eviction of anyone who detracts
from the quality of life at the rental
property. This not only applies to
tenants who are destructive, filthy,
or abusive, it applies for those who
are engaged in illegal activities.
Legislation now exists that allows
confiscation of property, so it only
makes sense that landlords retain
only those tenants who will
maintain the rental property,
ensuring maximum return on the
investment.
The Role of the Tenant
Sometimes I have to wonder if
some people enjoy living like pigs.
When I look at my Grandma, she
has always been a woman of
modest means, but she has always
insisted on cleanliness. Dirty dishes
and floors, unsanitary conditions,
food laying out are all conditions on
which roaches and rodents thrive.
Landlords can’t force people to live
in houses with bathrooms so dirty
that even a dog wouldn’t use them.
If you don’t wash your dishes after
ever meal, you’ll likely have
roaches.
Picking up litter on your grounds
a soon as you see it requires far less
time than waiting until you’re knee-
deep in trash. Landlords cannot be
blamed for all the negative
conditions in which some tenants
live. Stop grumbling about what’s
wrong with where you live, and ask
yourself, “What can I do to help
improve the conditions of my
surroundings?” Then, get to work
improving the quality of life in your
neighborhood. Just keep in mind:
while you’re sitting in filth and
misery waiting for the landlord to
do it for you, he or she is not likely
to be living in substandard housing!
Sometimes, the relationship
between landlord and tenant is an
unnecessary, self-fulfilling pro
phecy. The actions of some tenants
make landlords believe tenants
enjoy living in filthy, rat-infested,
they get tired of replacing or
repairing things that are deliberately
destroyed or damaged by tenants
which just contributes to the
ultimate decay of the property as the
cycle continues.
While major repairs are the
responsibility of the landlord, there
are any number of things that the
tenant can do. If you break a
window or destroy a light fixture,
learn to replace it. If you tear up
your toilet seat, get another one. If
you don’t make the place where you
spend a substantial part of your life
comfortable for you, there is only
so much that even the most
magnanimous landlord is going to
provide. And remember, when a
landlord is required to come out and
make a repair, you will feel it in
your pocketbook anyway because
eventually that visit and repair will
be justification for a rent increase.
Even on her fixed income, my
Grandma keeps doing whatever is
necessary to make her rented
quarters hers. I have seen her fight
the roaches and rats from
neighboring tenants who didn’t
have the same sense of pride and
responsibility, and she has always
come up a winner. If she can do it
at age 91, there is little excuse for
someone younger and abler,
regardless of the concerns of day-
to-day living.
Talung charge of how you live is
the first step in taking responsibility
of resolving your own problems
and doing something for yourself.
It is time for Black people to take
action. If not, the problem of
substandard housing will continue
to haunt Black and low-income
people, not just in Winston-Salem,
but everywhere.