1,000 signatures reached
To: Community Housing Concepts (CHC), Trestletree LLC, and Monroe Group
Trestletree Village Apartments Residents Fight Back Against Property Mismanagement and Harassment
The following are the Trestletree Tenants Association’s (the “Association”) demands of CHC Trestletree LLC (the owner) and Monroe Group (the management company) —
1. An end to eviction threats and excessive, unfounded lease violations.
2. An end to consistent mistreatment, harassment, and intimidation by current Management.
3. Widespread maintenance requests are to be addressed and not continued to be ignored (i.e. addressing water leaks, illness-causing mildew and mold, plumbing, wall peeling, insect infestations, etc.).
4. A complete change of staffing to replace the current Management, primarily the removal of property manager Shane Johnson
5. A cease all efforts by Monroe Group to start a "Trestletree Residents Council" as they indicated they would be doing in their recent letter to our legitimate tenants association on July 20, 2020. This effort by management is strictly against HUD regulations 24 CFR Part 245 for HUD Multifamily Housing Projects which considers "attempting to form a competing resident organization under the control of the management company or the owner" as an impediment to residents or resident associations attempting to exercise their rights. Trestletree Tenants Association demands that Monroe Group recognizes Trestletree Tenants Association as the only "legitimate" tenants association at Trestletree. Trestletree Tenants Association is considered "legitimate" under 24 CFR Part 245 as it "meets regularly, operates democratically, is representative of all residents in the development, and is completely independent of owners, management, and their representatives."
After experiencing written and verbal harassment, delayed and/or completely ignored repair and maintenance requests, legal threats, unjust and mismanaged notice distributions, and incorrect rent calculations, Residents are fed up! Resident families have been disrespected and unheard by Management whose job is to make the lives of their Residents easier, not unbearable. The removal of property manager Shane Johnson, specifically, would result in a drastic improvement in Management culture and in the lives of many Residents, as her shady and illegal business practices have resulted in families being displaced and replaced by Johnson’s personal friends and associates. The Association, which is made up of an organized group of Residents choosing to resist Management’s harassment, has also been targeted through Management’s attempt to form a competing, illegitimate “residents council,” which the Association does not recognize. Residents are demanding new and improved Management to improve the safety, peace, and standard of living for their own families and the community as a whole.
Why is this important?
“I have anxiety attacks every time I see a slip of paper on my door.”
Miracle Fletcher is a mother of two living at Trestletree Village Apartments. With a career in education that hit some major obstacles after she was diagnosed with a rare oral cancer in 2017, Miracle, her family, and many other Resident families in the low-income apartments have been “kicked while they are down” by the shady business practices and abuses of power taking place by Management. While living in a downstairs apartment unit in 2019, Miracle detailed horrific plumbing issues, ranging from instances of fecal matter and sewage water coming up through the bathtub drain while her children bathed, to their entire apartment being flooded and every piece of furniture having to be thrown out. Miracle, already immunocompromised in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic, contracted a bacterial infection from exposure to the contaminated water.
“We are treated in an inhumane manner, no regard for the health and safety of myself or my children,” says Miracle. “There’s no protection for us residents. It feels like it’s us against them.”
Other residents have experienced similar uninhabitable living conditions and have been ignored by Management when they made maintenance and repair requests. On several occasions, Velissa Sims has called about the mold situation and received no response.
“I have medical records showing how my and my children's allergies and respiratory health has been affected due to mold and roach infestations,” says Velissa. “We are all on long-term medication and have frequent doctor visits. We may even have to start getting monthly shots for my two children with asthma due to living conditions.”
Several Residents like Miracle and Velissa have been speaking out in an attempt to fight back against Management’s harassment and unprofessional practices since 2017. Specific Residents have been targeted with eviction threats, harassing notices, improper and unnecessary home inspections, and inadequate property upkeep (maintenance inside and outside Trestletree units). Now, months into a COVID-19 pandemic that has elevated stress levels universally, single, working mothers are having to balance health crises, essential jobs, and the taxing virtual homeschooling of multiple children at different grade levels with fighting back against property management harassment and threats of eviction from their homes. Retaliation is a prominent tactic used by Management; while response to complaints can go weeks, even months without answer, minor “lease violations” are served randomly and more frequently to residents who fight back against the unfair treatment.
“Everyone is on edge all the time. Even if you pay rent and utilities, you can look forward to some type of harassment,” says fellow Resident Tempestt Sims. “With me being a single parent, it makes it feel like [Management is] trying to intimidate you to either stay silent or leave. It’s scary to know at any moment my home can be taken from me.” Sims and others have been threatened to be evicted from their homes as a retaliation and intimidation tactic by Management. If Residents complain about unfounded or incorrect violations, maintenance issues, or provide any type of criticism toward Trestletree Management, the level of harassment intensifies.
Trestletree Village Apartments Residents are given violations for nearly any miniscule infringement Trestletree Management can come up with; these bogus lease violations are stacked up over time and used as a record of “issues” to defend Management’s eventual failure to renew resident leases when the time comes. This targeted, mean-spirited stereotyping and mistreatment of Trestletree Residents must be stopped! Residents want property managers who want to work with them, not against them, to build a community of peace, respect, and accountability. Trestletree Village Apartments’ current Management cannot fulfill these needs, and therefore need to be removed and replaced.