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edenfallingThis past week at the rental office has been A Lot, about 90% of which is the result of my own actions.
To summarize, I sent out notices to current tenants who had placed their apartments on hold to notify them that the hold period was ending. I then also sent notices to everyone who hadn't responded at all to our "hey, what are your housing plans?" emails in the fall to say that as a courtesy we'd been contacting them directly if someone was interested in their apartments, but because the hold period was ending, after [date x] we'd just assume their apartments were available... so did they maybe want to renew?
We have consequently been inundated by renewal requests. Which is a good problem to have! It's just a lot of work, both to pull them all together and send them out, and to keep track of what's been done and what still needs doing.
Today I sent non-renewal notices to everyone who didn't respond to this set of emails, which duly prodded at least one more person into saying, "Oh hey, actually I do want to renew!" I need to set a calendar reminder for sending the legally required 90-day notices later this month (so as to catch the late May/early June leases), and then the 30-day notices later on.
I mean, we are still more than happy to renew most of these tenants! We just can't assume they will renew if they don't respond to our attempts to contact them, you know?
...
We are also having a disruptive tenant issue in one property and it looks like the situation is getting worse. Multiple other tenants have complained and various authorities and advocates have been contacted. Ideally we can figure out and resolve whatever is going on with [name redacted], who has previously been a great tenant and generally a chill person, but their current behavior is super not okay and is creating an unsafe and upsetting environment for their neighbors. :(
On a tangentially related note, there is currently a fairly active tenant union movement in Ithaca, and on the one hand I sympathize a lot. Everyone deserves secure and stable housing! On the other hand, I am not sure good-cause eviction laws (especially as broad as many current proposals) are the best way to provide that, particularly because the majority of landlords are very small businesses and don't have the resources to help tenants who develop problems, or the financial wherewithal to shoulder months of non-payment of rent.
I personally think the best solution is to expand government housing programs in buildings that the government owns and operates, and which are integrated with good mental health support programs and other disability support programs. In these cases, I think scale is our friend -- even if the units in question are smaller or scattered through an otherwise owner-occupied neighborhood, just being part of a larger program creates more of a logistical safety net than a random person who owns three houses and rents two of them could ever provide.
Also we need better funding for mental health services in general, and perhaps some universal income program. That would resolve a lot of problems. *sigh*
But people are always going to be people, and given that truth, there will always be situations where one person makes a building unlivable for their neighbors. And there's no way to resolve that without making someone upset. :(
...
And now I think I shall go to bed early, because I will need to get up early tomorrow morning to dig myself and my car out of the 6-12 inches of snow predicted to fall by the end of this storm. Ugh. This storm has already made me miss yet another attempt to give blood (tonight's appointment was cancelled on account of ice and snow), and honestly, I am so done with winter.
To summarize, I sent out notices to current tenants who had placed their apartments on hold to notify them that the hold period was ending. I then also sent notices to everyone who hadn't responded at all to our "hey, what are your housing plans?" emails in the fall to say that as a courtesy we'd been contacting them directly if someone was interested in their apartments, but because the hold period was ending, after [date x] we'd just assume their apartments were available... so did they maybe want to renew?
We have consequently been inundated by renewal requests. Which is a good problem to have! It's just a lot of work, both to pull them all together and send them out, and to keep track of what's been done and what still needs doing.
Today I sent non-renewal notices to everyone who didn't respond to this set of emails, which duly prodded at least one more person into saying, "Oh hey, actually I do want to renew!" I need to set a calendar reminder for sending the legally required 90-day notices later this month (so as to catch the late May/early June leases), and then the 30-day notices later on.
I mean, we are still more than happy to renew most of these tenants! We just can't assume they will renew if they don't respond to our attempts to contact them, you know?
...
We are also having a disruptive tenant issue in one property and it looks like the situation is getting worse. Multiple other tenants have complained and various authorities and advocates have been contacted. Ideally we can figure out and resolve whatever is going on with [name redacted], who has previously been a great tenant and generally a chill person, but their current behavior is super not okay and is creating an unsafe and upsetting environment for their neighbors. :(
On a tangentially related note, there is currently a fairly active tenant union movement in Ithaca, and on the one hand I sympathize a lot. Everyone deserves secure and stable housing! On the other hand, I am not sure good-cause eviction laws (especially as broad as many current proposals) are the best way to provide that, particularly because the majority of landlords are very small businesses and don't have the resources to help tenants who develop problems, or the financial wherewithal to shoulder months of non-payment of rent.
I personally think the best solution is to expand government housing programs in buildings that the government owns and operates, and which are integrated with good mental health support programs and other disability support programs. In these cases, I think scale is our friend -- even if the units in question are smaller or scattered through an otherwise owner-occupied neighborhood, just being part of a larger program creates more of a logistical safety net than a random person who owns three houses and rents two of them could ever provide.
Also we need better funding for mental health services in general, and perhaps some universal income program. That would resolve a lot of problems. *sigh*
But people are always going to be people, and given that truth, there will always be situations where one person makes a building unlivable for their neighbors. And there's no way to resolve that without making someone upset. :(
...
And now I think I shall go to bed early, because I will need to get up early tomorrow morning to dig myself and my car out of the 6-12 inches of snow predicted to fall by the end of this storm. Ugh. This storm has already made me miss yet another attempt to give blood (tonight's appointment was cancelled on account of ice and snow), and honestly, I am so done with winter.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-02-09 12:26 am (UTC)