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SALT LAKE CITY — A group of tenants delivered a letter of demands to the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City on Monday citing poor management, dangerous living conditions and unfair rent hikes.
Approximately a dozen tenants of Canterbury Apartments and the Tenants Union of Salt Lake City gathered on the lawn of the Housing Authority equipped with signs and chants. Following a short demonstration, the group delivered a letter to the authority and outlined its concerns. This is the second group of tenants in partnership with the Tenants Union of Salt Lake City to deliver a set of demands citing large rent hikes, poor maintenance and preferential treatment for some residents.
The letter read, in part:
"For several years, we have had issues with maintenance. Important requests are consistently neglected for months or even years. And when maintenance is finally done, it is often done improperly or incompletely. Many of these issues aren't just inconvenient; they are dangerous. Residents are left without heat in the winter or (air conditioning) in the summer, dysfunctional utilities and other issues which when not addressed threaten our financial and personal well-being.
"Many tenants have received water bills that are egregiously high. Some of these water bills have been hundreds of dollars and they have been rising each month. There have been other issues with bills and fees as well."
The Canterbury Apartments building consists of two-bedroom and three-bedroom units but rents outlined by the group of tenants varied along with fees. Similar layouts of units varied by several hundred dollars in some cases, according to the tenants. Some residents reported being charged $15 dollars in parking while others reported paying up to $50 dollars in parking. Other utility charges varied between residents as well, who stated when management was asked about the difference in prices no response was given.
"Our kids are all living in garbage. They're running around with no safe place to play, no safety, broken glass, broken tables just tossed out because there's nothing being done," said resident Lora Simister. "We've had people come from different countries to look for a better life, and they're not getting it. The American dream is not happening here."
While residents acknowledged the escalating cost of living in Utah, tenant Jennifer Miller pointed to the lack of maintaining the property's upkeep and safety as unfair, along with rising costs.
"Nothing has been remodeled, updated or changed. It's outrageous to raise the rent amount," Miller said. Miller reported a gas leak in her apartment that remains unfixed, she said. She says she purchased individual heaters to keep her apartment warm until the gas leak could be fixed and turned back on and has not been reimbursed for the cost.
Tenants also reported broken equipment on the playground and needles from drug use being left on the property, broken community amenities and unexplained fees. Additionally, the new management company's lease outlined a clause about "right of entry" that removes any requirement of notice upon entering the unit.
Vicci Jenkins, deputy director of property management of the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City, received the group's demands and a letter with over 60 signatures from apartment residents. Jenkins reassured the group that the concerns and issues raised would be looked into by officials and receive a response.
This is the second time this year residents of Housing Authority properties have appealed to the federally funded agency to improve living conditions and alleged unfair pricing. In June, residents at a pair of properties at 257 N. Redwood and 330 North delivered a similar letter.
The agency said about two weeks later it was making a number of changes and that a "breakdown of communication" led to some residents seeing substantially higher rent increases than others. A representative of the Housing Authority said at that time the agency was investigating whether the oversight was isolated to those two properties, but had not found evidence that similar errors took place at other properties.
