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Date: 12/19/2022
HOLYOKE – Residents came out for the Public Safety Committee’s Dec. 12 meeting to express concerns and encourage councilors to act on poor living conditions and the lack of affordable housing in the city.
The public hearing was opened due to a petition from Holyoke citizens requesting a public meeting to discuss concerns being raised by residents about housing conditions and rising rents. One of the top priorities requested from the residents was the need for the city to create a municipal office of tenant protections and the drafting of a tenants’ bill of rights for residents of rental housing.
Neighbor to Neighbor organizer Katie Talbot works with helping find people affordable homes and fights for tenants’ rights. She shared to the committee that she could not find affordable housing in the city that met her family’s needs.
“For far too long we’ve been living in conditions that are uninhabitable and would never want to live in,” Talbot said. “We’re hoping this is the first step in a conversation around a tenant bill of rights.”
Resident April Gagnon spoke during the hearing about the poor conditions in her building that included leaky pipes, rodents, a faulty ceiling and stated she had to repair her own toilet and had no avenue of assistance in doing so. She noted she had no other option or else she would have been “peeing in a bucket.”
Gagnon also claimed the building she lives in has an illegal heating system that has gone unchecked, and it is on and off with its functionality.
“The heat doesn’t work, and when it does work, it’s freezing cold in my house. I have mice poop everywhere,” Gagnon said.
With this specific issue, Gagnon also noted that she often is throwing away food due to mice in the home and that the conditions have impacted her children’s mental and physical health. She also noted a security door in her building remains unfixed.
“I’m here fighting for my children’s safety and my safety with a baseball bat because we have people who want to come in and do and sell drugs out of our hallways,” Gagnon said.
Gagnon said she had filed complaints with the city and the municipal Board of Health and told the committee she would rather be homeless than continue in her current situation.
Another resident shared she works several jobs to raise money for rent but is facing continued increase in her rent. She added it seems that she has to move from house to house far too often and the prices available are, “just too damn high.”
One resident fought through tears describing her living conditions as she has an upstairs neighbor who is a hoarder and there have been roaches in the home due to it and also noted there was drywall peeling. The same resident shared for 24 hours prior to the meeting her and her husband who has cancer were left without heat in their home.
“I had to threaten our landlord to get somebody to come in to repair the furnace, for us to get heat. We have been fighting this for the last three years to keep the heat going on a consistent basis,” she said. “This is the fight I am in by myself.”
Similar stories were shared by residents of uninhabitable conditions like rodents, drug related safety issues with neighbors, damage of doors and windows, and deterioration of walls or ceilings for a large bulk of the meeting. Some residents pleaded to the committee for help in efforts to change this growing problem in the city.
Many speakers also shared similar stories of their landlords being extremely difficult to get in contact with, claims of direct neglect from landlords and concerns of rising prices from landlords.
Attorney Dan Ordorica of Heisler, Feldman and McCormick, said his firm represents low-income clients. Ordorica said the clients he represents come to him with reports of dangerous molds and leads which landlords must legally respond to. He added he sees every day in his work the challenges of tenants across the state and added we are in a housing crisis in terms of both availability and price of housing.
“Over and over again we see the landlords charging an exorbitant amount for the rents, yet they don’t do their part. They don’t take care of their responsibilities to fix the issues that exist,” Ordorica said. “We’re seeing these landlords sitting on the backs of tenants, like vampires sucking blood, sucking the wealth out of this community.”
Building owners typically do not live in the same community they own the property in, which can lead to potential aspects of neglect like some of the claims made by residents during the hearing. Ordorica noted a landlord in Springfield who owns 1,000 units across the city that generate $1 million in monthly income. According to the lawyer, this landlord resides in New Jersey and is an example of why the city, and state, must create a system to avoid issues like the one being faced.
Executive Director of One Holyoke Community Development Corp. Michael Moriarty said the nonprofit manages 275 units in the city and they focus on managing properties and advocating for residents. He added it is challenging for tenants to thrive if they spend one-third or more of their income on housing.
“The vast majority of people living in Hampden County are cost burden, and overwhelmingly that’s true for people who live in the city of Holyoke,” Moriarty said, citing that 52 percent of One Holyoke’s tenants lack subsidies. The organization froze rents for 2022 as other costs, like heating, went up. According to Moriarty, an average of 3 to 5 percent of their units are available to rent.
Moriarty said One Holyoke is a social enterprise and cost burden has been something they pay closely to.
President of Virgilio Property Management Greg Virgilio has owned properties in Holyoke for the last 40 years and was one of several property owners present at the hearing but still questioned why other landlords were not there.
“I heard a lot of tenants complain about the conditions in their apartments. They have the right to take corrective action,” Virgilio said.
Virgilio added that renters must realize their rights to contact the Board of Health, which can conduct apartment inspections due to tenant complaints. He added that when he has had to appear in court if a code violation went uncorrected within 30 days for property he owns in Springfield, something he noted Holyoke does not currently do.
Virgilio said he believes the Board of Health does good work and that tenants just needed to be made more aware of their option there. He also said the city was not tough enough on “the bad landlords.”
Ward 2 Councilor Will Puello noted at the end of the hearing that while he agreed with complaints of tenants, this was an issue that was mostly out of the City Council’s control. Puello cited the state having a $4 billion plus surplus and lack of support to the city for issues such as this.
“Where’s the state rep in all of this…People talk about where’s the state aid? Where’s our money? Well, there it is. $4 billion and how much did Holyoke get? Zero. Absolutely nothing,” Puello said. “It’s important that people know that because people talk about elections – the state rep, she ran unopposed this year. I think it’s very important people understand. Sometimes people don’t say exactly who’s responsible for some of these things and who’s responsible for making changes…This is state legislation. Where is our state rep....Where is our state senator? Nothing, nobody has anything to say about that.”
Puello said a lot of his issue was where is the state share for Holyoke. He added he agrees the city needs more housing but felt enforcement to creating the change needed is important and without state aid it makes changing the city’s issue a challenge.
Rivera noted that Puello was “not incorrect” in saying the council’s hands were tied due to a lot of this involving the state Legislature and state law. However, Rivera said to residents in attendance that as a community if they can continue speaking up for these issues at city meetings then the Holyoke representatives will get the issue on their radar when checking in with the community.
“We’re working with you. I’ve heard people feeling like we aren’t doing enough and trying to support and to me, that’s not necessarily true,” Rivera said. “I’m here, it’s 9:15, I have two babies at home. My wife has been texting me. This is to hear you guys out. This is my way of supporting and helping…this is the first step and hopefully we follow up and continue moving forward.”
Rivera said he felt he needed to address it, so residents did not leave the hearing feeling as though nothing was accomplished. Ward 4 Councilor Kocayne Givner agreed with Rivera’s points and said it was vitally important for residents to share their experiences.
“I think you should also understand that the people before you, many of us have gone through very similar things if not the exact same things,” said Givner. “I would like you to know that not everyone is from a place of privilege before you and I think that’s really something that people forget.”
Ward 5 Councilor Linda Vacon said she been active in looking for increased enforcement related to housing issues. She shared her cell phone number to hearing participants for a direct text line while for future discussions on fixing the issue in Holyoke.
Prior to the committee’s hearing, about 20 protesters gathered on the steps of City Hall to protest for rent control and solutions to the city’s housing issues. Residents expressed the need for the city’s representatives to fight for rent control in order to support and reflect their constituents.
Councilor Israel Rivera thanked residents for organizing the hearing through signatures and for taking the time to break down some of the issues being faced by tenants.
“The main goal out of this meeting was to listen for us, at least for me here as a councilor and as chairs of public safety,” Rivera said.