Low-income residents at Springfield apartment complexes Meadow View Place and Meadow View Landing said they feel targeted after the properties were bought last October by a Denver-based company. Senior residents continue to feel threatened, as previously reported by Illinois Times. (See "Turmoil at senior housing complex," by David Blanchette, May 9.)
"Some people are older, and they're ill, and they don't have any family members to advocate for them; it's a bad situation," said Jackie Ping, a resident of Meadow View Place, 4305 W. Washington. "This was a senior community and now all of a sudden they said it's not." Meadow View Landing is at 2801 Montaluma Drive.
The new management, Highland Vista Group, is still bound to the original affordability requirements through the end of the extended use period, or 30 years after the Low-Income Housing Tax Credits were placed in service, according to the Illinois Housing Development Authority.
But the company's agreement to provide affordable housing at Meadow View Place is ending this December. The agreement to provide affordable housing at Meadow View Landing ends Dec. 31, 2028. Until then, 128 units of the 160 total units need to be 50 to 60 percent of the local area median income.
Senior residents say they have repeatedly received eviction notices giving them less than 24 hours to pay and utility charges not listed in their lease. The city found these charges to be against city code and gave the company until Sept. 1 to correct them.
"Corporate runs the way they want; that's why they can't keep upper management," said a previous maintenance supervisor, who requested anonymity because of fear of retribution. "They need to listen to the experience of seasoned upper management. Until then it will be 100 percent mishandled."
Residents also claim management has been moving in younger tenants. Meadow View Place and Landing previously were limited to residents 55 years of age and over.
Illinois Times contacted management again several times this month. The local property managers said they were told by regional management not to comment and requested their lawyer, Randy Paswater, to speak on their behalf. Paswater said "no comment."
Eviction notices
On Sept. 17, residents received notices giving them less than 24 hours to pay, or management would start an eviction process.
"If I didn't pay the $400 that was on that invoice by 3 p.m. the next day they were going to send it to their lawyer to start the eviction process," said Ping. "And a lot of other residents received this too."
Springfield lawyer Mike Durr, who has over 30 years of experience with landlord-tenant law, said that while the Illinois Eviction Act says it can be legal to post notices on a resident's door, landlords are required to give residents at least five days' notice, counting the day the notice was issued.
Subsidized housing evictions
Over 18 subsidized residents received eviction notices over the summer for nonpayment of rent.
Melissa Huffstedtler, deputy director of Springfield Housing Authority, says she is unaware that 18 subsidized residents received eviction notices over the summer.
"We have had some staffing shortages over the last several months, and so we're just trying to catch up with all the outstanding items that are going on with our voucher holders," said Huffstedtler.
Kelly Jennings, a Meadow View Place resident living in subsidized housing, received an eviction notice and says she has money orders proving rent payment.
"This is the fourth time I've had to show proof that I've paid," said Jennings. "I gave them one rent payment right away, and then three days later, I gave another payment for the next month. And then that's when I get this – I'm being evicted because I haven't paid for rent."
Huffstedtler says a landlord cannot evict a resident when Springfield Housing Authority does not pay its part of the bill. She recommends management contact the housing authority if they're not getting the authority's payments.
A section 8 resident filed a 30-day notice to leave her unit after being priced out, but SHA did not finish her paperwork in time. "They said they're short of staff so I didn't get out in 30 days," said the resident, remaining anonymous for fear of retribution. "I have to sign another vacancy notice to keep people from making me sign the lease next week. I can't afford the new rent and don't want to go into debt while I wait."
Utility charges questioned
Last May, CWLP found Meadow View management was reselling water services, which is against city code. Deborah Williams, CWLP's regulatory affairs director, issued a letter to management and gave them until Sept. 1 to fix the charges.
"We can't stop a landlord from including the cost of utilities in rent, so as long as it's a flat amount that they get charged the same thing every month, then we don't see a problem with that," said Williams.
Residents do not pay CWLP for water, because there are no meters to monitor individual water usage. Management can charge residents for the service, as long as it's a flat fee in their lease.
Residents pay CWLP for electricity and reported receiving additional electric bills from management.
"I talked to some people this summer who received rent bills showing electric for common areas, but I don't believe that's going to be the case going forward," said CWLP's Williams. "If they are being rebilled for electricity they are already paying for through their meters, we would have to address that."
These utility charges were not announced by the management company and are not listed in every lease, according to residents.
Ping says she confirmed with management Sept. 18 the utility charges are not under her lease, but the managers would not give her a copy of her lease.
"She just took the lease out of the folder and put it on the table and started looking through it," said Ping. "I said I want a copy of my lease and she said, 'Well, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to print it off there to copy it' and promised to put it in an envelope on my door that afternoon."
Ping did not receive the lease that afternoon.
Scott Linde, director of development for a nonprofit serving senior citizens, said he's heard from several Meadow View residents who have had problems getting a copy of their lease.
"Any additional charges would have to be listed in the lease so having a problem getting a copy of that lease is a big issue right there," Linde said.
Residents say they have not received additional charges since Sept. 1 but have received eviction notices for not paying the summer charges.
Springfield housing
More than a third of Meadow View Place residents have left in the past year, according to residents.
"I've counted at least 17 or 18 people who have left since the Highland VISTA group took over," said Diane Eleopoulos, Meadow View Place resident. "In nine months that many have left, and this property has 60 apartments."
Some residents are unsure where to go if they are evicted.
This month, a company of three Springfield senior living facilities filed for bankruptcy. Nationally, there is a low supply of available Section 8 and low-income housing.
"It's so expensive," said Barbara Williams, Meadow View Place resident. "Everybody says 'just move,' as if I could just get up and walk around and find a place. It's horrible trying to find a place. It took me a year and a half to find this."
And residents don't know how to consistently contact management. Eight of the nine phone numbers currently listed on the property building and website do not work.
"I had to call the emergency number a couple weeks ago at around 1:30 in the morning, and I called the number that they had given me placed on the side of my fridge, and it didn't work," said Bobi Milner, Meadow View Place resident. "I had to come into the community room and look on that bulletin board to get the number."
Addison Wright is a UIS grad student in the Public Affairs Reporting program. Wright graduated from UNC Asheville last spring with a double major in mass communications and political science. She covered local politics in Nashville, Tennessee, and food insecurity and higher education in North Carolina.
