25 signatures reached
To: Vladimy Moise, Landlord
Bankhead Tenants Demand Justice from Their Landlord After Abuse, Neglect, and Illegal Evictions
Sign this petition to demand that Vladimy Moise
1) Cease all attempts to illegally evict his tenants, including changing locks, shutting off utilities, and removing belongings from the home
2) Fully reimburse tenants for damages he caused when attempting to illegally evict them, including damaged or missing belongings, hotel bills, and rent paid
3) Repair all damage to the home that he intentionally caused, including the cutting off of electricity and the destruction of appliances
4) Either repair the longstanding maintenance issues that were present before the illegal evictions, including the raw sewage leaking out of the septic tank into the basement, the possible gas leak from the furnace, and the myriad of other damage, or pay for the tenants to be re-housed in a safe environment.
Why is this important?
Prado, Teari, CJ, and Duerell are all residents of a Bankhead rooming house. They are parents, workers, and students just trying to live their lives. But their landlord, Vladimy Moise, has forced them to live in horrific conditions for months by neglecting basic maintenance and allowing the property to fall apart. Now, he is attempting to illegally evict all of them so that he can sell the property. With housing prices rising on the west side, slumlords like Vladimy are exploiting black, working-class tenants who have nowhere else to go.
The conditions that these tenants have endured in the home are unimaginable. In the basement, there is a huge puddle of raw sewage from the septic tank, creating a horrific odor throughout the house. One tenant, CJ, cannot even flush their toilet. When the heater is on, the air in the house becomes nearly unbreathable, and tenants suspect a gas leak. As a result of the air quality, they have been sleeping without heat and with open windows. Vladimy's horrific neglect of basic maintenance has caused several of the tenants to experience health problems, including difficulty breathing.
Vladimy has already taken several illegal actions in attempt to evict these tenants. He threw tenants' belongings to the street, changed the locks, cut off the electricity, and destroyed appliances. Many of their belongings were stolen or broken once they were thrown to the curb. One tenant, Teari, lost hundreds of dollars of clothes including a brand new pair of $200 shoes. Several of the tenants had even paid for the whole month's rent, only for Vladimy to kick them out before the month was over. Duerell was getting a degree online when Vladimy illegally evicted him. Afterwards, Duerell was forced to sleep in his car rather than in the room that he paid for; without wifi, he had to withdraw from school for the semester. Although the tenants have now returned to the home, they cannot cook or refrigerate food due to the intentional sabotage of the stove and refrigerator.
Prado, Teari, CJ and Duerell are just ordinary people trying to live their lives. But slumlords like Vladimy don't see tenants as people; they see them as sources of profit to be exploited, abused, and disposed of. These tenants are fighting back against slumlords' greedy and evil ways; when tenants stand up for their rights to live with dignity and without exploitation, we must stand with them!