Tenants accuse Salt Lake housing authority of unfair rent hikes, poor treatment

Five-year-old Carlos Castillo missed school every time it snowed this past winter.

Carlos has microcephaly — a birth defect whose symptoms include poor growth, difficulty with movement, speech delays and learning disabilities — and requires a wheelchair to get around. However, his mother says the affordable housing complex where he lives has not provided reasonable accommodations required by state and federal law, specifically in the form of a wheelchair ramp.

It’s already been over six months since the the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City, which owns the property, approved the family’s request for the ramp at the end of November. Carlos’s mom, Cecilia Castillos, said her property manger installed two moveable ramps — neither of which line up with the steps leading up to their town house, and which she says often slid out of place before she bought rugs to go under them.

The property manager, Castillo said, claimed there wasn’t enough money to address the third remaining step leading up to the home.

With snow plowed high on each side of the cement path leading to her front door and without a way to navigate Carlos’s heavy wheelchair on the last step, Castillo said she had no choice but to keep her son home from school. It’s been difficult for both Castillo, who is her son’s 24/7 caretaker, as well as Carlos himself, who Castillo said is missing out on the therapies he receives at school and connecting with other kids.

“He has a lot of problems, like speaking. He needs school,” Castillo said in Spanish. “He can’t talk, he can’t say things. But as a mother, I have to say what he needs — that this isn’t fair. ... It’s difficult. It makes me angry and sad because how can they tell me they don’t have the money and now they’re charging so much (in rent).”

Castillo is one of dozens of tenants across two Housing Authority properties at 330 N. 800 West and 257 N. Redwood Road that are organizing under the name Vecinos Unidos (or “united neighbors” in English) against what they say is unfair treatment and high rent hikes.

Tenants reported being given little to no notice of rent increases of up to $600, maintenance workers entering their homes without notice, living in poorly maintained properties, paying out of pocket for repairs that they say maintenance ignores and having their vehicles frequently towed. Tenants claim they are threatened and intimidated by their property manager when they attempt to raise these concerns.

A handful of the tenants, along with organizers from the Tenants Union of Salt Lake, delivered a demand letter June 30 to the Housing Authority of Salt Lake City and the Housing Assistance Management Enterprise, the nonprofit subsidiary of the authority that manages low- and moderate-income housing units.

The letter outlines the tenants’ concerns and claims that Spanish-speaking tenants are being charged hundreds of dollars a month more than their English-speaking counterparts in similar units. The letter also demands that the Housing Authority end the high rent increases, establish standard rents to each type of unit and meet with tenants collectively to negotiate.

“If these demands are ignored, we will continue to take legal or other actions to defend our homes,” the letter reads.

Housing Authority property management officials told tenants June 30 that they would investigate the claims and reach out to tenants by the next week. Property management director Vicci Jenkins said the authority has not yet determined rent increases for the upcoming year and that any quotes tenants have already gotten are invalid.

“For current tenants, we care about retentions,” she said. “We’re not doing large rent increases.”

‘It’s just not worth what they’re asking for’

Castillo has renewed her rental contract each February for about a decade. But this February, a new rental agreement never came. Then March and April passed as well. Castillo said when she followed up with the property manager, she was told they didn’t have a new contract because the landlord was increasing rent but they weren’t yet sure by how much.

“Until May I had no contract,” Castillo said. “What was I supposed to do? Do you think I could find somewhere else to live in 15 days? And to move you need a deposit of a thousand something dollars. If you don’t have that money, you’re not going to move.”

Castillo’s rent went from $1,100 to $1,380, according to rental agreements she shared with KSL.com. She said her property manager claims the rent next year will rise to $2,100.

“The money that they’re charging us is unjust because they’re old apartments and need a (lot) of things fixed,” she said. “The money my spouse earns is not enough for us. We need to buy food and food is very expensive. Gas is very expensive, car insurance is very expensive. Everything is very expensive — and now they’re raising rent for apartments that have been paid off for years.”

Sara Price has lived in her current unit since December 2014. Price, a single mom, works hard as a psychiatric technician at the Huntsman Mental Health Institute to support herself and her 11-year-old son.

Over the years, she’s seen rent increases of $25 to $50, or sometimes nothing at all. It came as a shock, then, when Price heard from a neighbor that rents were being increased by hundreds of dollars. Worry set in as Price realized anything beyond the $916 she pays for a two-bedroom apartment would be a challenge.

In emails shared with KSL.com, the manager confirmed rents were increasing across the board, adding that the property’s two-bedroom units are going for $1,380-$1,480 and three-bedrooms for $1,480-$1,580. Those prices would translate to a $464 minimum increase if Price renews in December.

“At the moment I do not know what the increases will be for the end of the year, but you can expect to have the above numbers as the minimum,” the manager said in an email to Price. “It’s because of the market and the standards above that we have to even things up a bit. We will still be considered low rents and under market value. But compared at the rates you have right now, it is an extreme increase. The increases will allow us to update the community and unit needs, as it is obvious that some items have been ignored. We desire something better for your community.”

The manager recommended Price apply for a Housing Choice Voucher and offered a commiseration: “As a single mother the struggles are beyond our control at times, but we have to keep moving forward and finding the proper resources is key.”

Price, who said her annual income is about $45,000, makes too much to qualify for the Housing Choice Voucher (a federal housing assistance program for very low-income families, seniors and disabled individuals). She worries about what’s next for her and her son, who is diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, especially as rising housing prices across the county make moving to another apartment seem increasingly unfeasible. She expressed frustration that she first heard about rent increases from a neighbor rather than the property manager.

“I think my limit is like maybe $1,100, and it’s going to be tight. We’re gonna have to make a lot of changes,” she said. “I’m trying not to talk too much about it with (my son), but he also knows that we’re looking around and needing to move. He’s been kind of stressed about it because he’s going to have to get rid of some things. We’re gonna have to downsize. It’s been comfortable for him and change is hard. I’m trying to figure out how we can keep us in a space where he can still go to the same junior high as his peers that he’s been with the last six years.”

Even if she could afford the increase, Price says she wouldn’t stay.

“There’s no amenities. It’s poorly maintained. The area is getting better, but it’s still not great,” she said. “It’s just not worth what they’re asking for. I found places that are not that much that have like all the amenities that you can think of. It just seems unfair and not right to increase it that much.”

Lorenzo Rodriguez, who’s lived in his unit over two years, knows the difficulties of navigating maintenance all too well. He’s repaired multiple issues with his own hands and money — a broken front door, cracks in the wall after the 2020 earthquake, old carpet that triggered his son’s asthma, peeling kitchen countertops.

Maria Baez pays $1,255 for a three-bedroom that she shares with her husband and mother. She said she frequently has issues with maintenance, such as the time it took three months to fix her stove. She said her mother, who speaks primarily Spanish, was told by a maintenance worker who speaks both languages that she needed to speak English.

“It doesn’t seem fair to me that they said this to her,” Baez said. “(My mother) told me she felt invalidated and ignored in that moment for not being able to speak English.”

Irma Tafoye has lived in her unit on Redwood Road for 11 years with her spouse and three kids. The couple previously paid $1,220. Their rent was increased to $2,480 — a 103% increase. Although they can afford the increase, they were upset because it’s been clear the increase isn’t translating to better maintenance of the property, which she said has been an ongoing issue.

“We have to defend ourselves because if we stay quiet, they’re going to keep taking advantage,” she said in Spanish.