Why don't you just move?

If you are following the HOME Line Policy Blog, the excerpt in today's posting will look familiar. If you aren't a follower, I highly recommend you check it out. The blog provides succinct, compelling information about current tenant advocacy and policy initiatives. Next week, Michael Dahl, HOME Line's Public Policy Director, will be featured as a Housing Sense guest blogger in the first edition of Trading (Blog) Spaces.

Tenants Peggy Larkin and Melissa Leonard provided descriptive accounts of their struggles with their landlords during a legislative hearing this week on the Minnesota Tenants Bill of Rights. Their accounts of problem landlords and substandard rental conditions, posted on the HOME Line blog yesterday, becomes an object lesson about the experiences of low-income renters as a representative asks "Why don't you move?"

Peggy Larkin and Melissa Leonard, two tenants trying to maintain safe, decent, affordable housing, did an amazing job describing struggles they’ve had with their landlords. They made an amazing case for why State law should have been stronger to help them. Peggy had been falsely accused of not paying her rent several times; a simple receipt for rent paid would have resolved the matter. Her neighbors had lived in homes with furnaces that did not work for weeks; a number of provisions in the Tenant Bill of Rights would have helped them. And Melissa and her family were living with no water and backed-up sewage for nearly a month; again, several portions of the Minnesota Tenant Bill of Rights would have helped her out.

After their testimony, Representative Drakowski asked, “The question that comes to my mind is why don’t you move?” Here’s a transcript of the question and answer from Wednesday’s hearing:

Rep. Drakowski: The question that comes to my mind is why don’t you move? Umm. I mean we can all say these bad people are doing this or we can take control of our lives and move. Why don’t you move somewhere else? There’s definitely other landlords who probably do a better job. If people don’t take part in a contractual relationship they will either fix the place up of go out of business.

Melissa Leonard: I knew that question was going to be asked, and I was prepared for that. It’s mainly because of what landlords ask for. They ask for first and last months rent, they ask for a $40-$50 fee for an application. I have checked over 30 apartments in the Anoka County – Coon Rapids area; and the cheapest, the cheapest I have found for first and last months rent was $2,500. That’s what they ask; and, as a single mom making $8 that’s impossible, absolutely impossible to be able to do that. To come up with $2500 to move, I just couldn’t do it.

Peggy Larkin: Thanks for a asking that question. I live in Section 8 housing, and the shortest waiting list to get into Section 8 housing is 3-4 years. So I would have to wait that long to be able to move. It’s a very difficult scenario to be in Section 8 housing and find other affordable housing. In addition to this, I have set up roots in my community, to try to change how I interact with my landlord because, I believe that the playing field could be leveled fairly easily and they should have to provide certain basic necessities.

I think the majority of landlords do the right thing. They are fair to their tenants, keep up their properties, and provide safe, decent housing. However, as Melissa and Peggy point out, some renters end up with landlords who don't do the right thing and they lack the power to change things and the means to move somewhere else. At a time when there are limited options for affordable rental housing, we can at least level the playing field for renters.