Citing hazardous living conditions, Colorado Springs renters form tenants union
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Dozens of residents gathered outside Aviator Apartment Homes Nov. 16 to announce their tenant union. The group — holding signs that said “THE RENT IS TOO DAMN HIGH!” — chanted “tenant power” in unison.
Residents from 66 of the apartment complex’s roughly 120 occupied units formed the “Aviator Tenant Union” in an effort to make the property owners address what tenants described as unsafe and uninhabitable conditions.
The tenant union provided a list demanding 21 improvements to the apartment complex. Among the demands are repairs to heating, plumbing and mold remediation, along with improvements in common areas, including fully functioning laundry machines and regularly cleaned hallways.
The Aviator Apartments in East Colorado Springs is a five-building complex owned by out-of-state landlords Whitney Sewell and Sam Rust, who live in Virginia and Idaho, respectively. Sewell is the founder of Life Bridge Capital, the real estate investment firm that acquired the complex, and Rust serves as its managing partner.
Sewell also runs a nonprofit adoption agency and a company that “help[s] high-achieving Christian men follow God faithfully, love their families well, and build a legacy that lasts through 1:1 coaching, podcasting, courses, and more,” according to his website.
“Whitney Sewell loves to talk on his social media and YouTube about being a good man, about being virtuous, Christ-centered,” said Catherine Murphy, one of the leaders of the union.
“We ask you this Whitney… How can you say this while you are in the business of buying up apartments, where families and children live with black mold, no heat, and roaches.”
Life Bridge Capital did not respond to RMPBS’ request for comment.
A tenants union is a way for residents to organize to demand change from their landlords, said Eida Altman, the executive director at Denver Metro Tenants Union. Often, individual tenants can’t afford attorneys to hold their landlords legally accountable, she said, but organizing as a union allows renters to pool their resources. While landlords are not required to recognize tenant unions, Altman said organizing gives residents more power to pressure landlords to meet their demands than they would have individually.
However, Altman admitted that tenants rights are not that strong in Colorado compared to other states. There are few places in the country where tenants have “positive rights,” meaning landlords must provide certain services, Altman said. Most regulations focus on “negative rights,” which dictate what landlords must not do, like retaliating against tenants who unionize through eviction or raising the rent. Altman said San Francisco is an example of a city where tenants have positive rights.
There are at least two other tenant associations in Colorado Springs. Residents of Centennial Plaza formed the first public housing tenants association in the city and in October, a group of residents formed the Acacia Park Tenants Association in October. The Colorado Springs Housing Authority manages both Centennial Plaza and Acacia Park.
Max Kronstadt, founder of the Colorado Springs Pro-Housing Partnership, told Colorado Politics earlier this month that the Housing Authority has successfully addressed some of the tenants’ concerns.
Tenants at Aviator Apartments voted for seven residents to serve as their union representatives. The landlords of Aviator Apartments, in response to the union’s demands, stated that they did not recognize the union, according to Benjamin Colby, a tenants union representative for Aviator Apartments.
The Aviator Tenants Union is still waiting for their landlord to come to the table and negotiate with them.
“The landlord denied the request for negotiations and so the union is ready and prepared to escalate to put pressure on the landlord,” said Zianah Griffin, a community organizer who is working with the tenants.
Griffin said the ultimate leverage the tenants have is the rent.
“The tenant union will utilize a variety of tactics — public pressure, reaching out to public officials and if the landlord doesn’t move then they will prepare for a rent strike,” she said.
While the tenants are leading the effort on the front lines, the Colorado Springs Tenants Association, a citywide tenant union based in Colorado Springs, is supporting them by hosting weekly meetings with residents at the property.
Life Bridge Capital sent a statement to the organizers.
“We respect residents' right to gather and share their views, but we are not entering into collective bargaining or recognizing any third-party organization as the exclusive representative of all tenants,” said Life Bridge Capital in an email to the organizers regarding the union’s negotiation request.
Brandy Carlson, 21, lives in Aviator Apartments with her 18-month-old son, CJ, her mother, and her niece and nephew who are both under 15 years old. Carlson, who joined the union, moved into her apartment seven months ago and noticed several issues, including an unstable balcony, mold and her freezer not functioning properly.
“The freezer knob has been broken. It will stay cold, but with the slightest touch it can make everything fall, which is very frustrating. You have to replace food and then you have to hope that wiggling stuff will turn the temperature back to how you need it,” Carlson said. “Plus with the government shutdown, SNAP was halted, so food is expensive.”
Carlson said she submitted a work order to address the freezer issue, but no one has responded. Rocky Mountain PBS reviewed the maintenance request documented on Carlson's account. It showed Carlson reported the issue before Nov. 16 on the resident portal app. She marked the issue as an emergency. The request remains unresolved.
The manager of the leasing office at Aviator Apartments declined RMPBS’ request for an interview and referred us to the corporate office for comment, who did not respond to the request.
Carlson and her mother, Amy Cook, are also concerned about the children’s health.
“The tub is peeling and I have two grandsons here and I don’t know what’s underneath,” Cook said. She is worried that the materials beneath the peeling tub are contaminating the water.
Cook’s maintenance request for the bathtub has been unresolved since mid-June. She said the property manager asked her to pay out of pocket to fix it, which Cook refused to do, saying it was not her responsibility as a tenant.
Another resident who joined the tenant union, 62-year-old Alice Stevens, said her heat did not work properly for multiple winters. Stevens told Rocky Mountain PBS that she reported the heat issue, but the maintenance request does not show up in her records.
One of the key points the union is fighting for is to “fix the heating system throughout all four buildings,” because many residents reported inconsistent heating during the winter.
Stevens, who is retired and relies on a fixed income from social security, lives with her daughter, Allison, and her three grandkids. Their apartment costs $1,300 monthly for rent, though Stevens and her family have fallen a few months behind on their payments. The Colorado Emergency Rental Assistance program recently helped them pay their overdue rent, as well as the rest of their rent for the year, according to Allison Stevens.
“I’ve worked for four decades, and now I have pain. I have arthritis and varicose veins,” Alice Stevens said, adding that the lack of heat worsens her pain.
“From my lower back down, I hurt on a daily basis.”
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.