Monday brought a small crowd to the offices of Jair Lynch over an ongoing dispute with the management company they hired to oversee things at their building at 1111 Massachusetts Ave. That would be the local magnate Kettler who, according to the Latino Economic Development Center, has begun some disrespectful and outright illegal moves. According to Farah Fosse, LEDC Affordable Housing Preservation Director, Kettler is required to provide Spanish-speaking workers in the leasing office for the building. But the ones they had hired a few weeks ago had been told by management that they were no longer allowed to provide any services in Spanish. Also, according to Fosse, the leasing office had told tenants that new occupancy guidelines meant that too many people were living in some units and some of them would have to move out. "They said it was a new law, but there is no such law." said Fosse. "They actually said to some [tenants] that they were going to have to choose between their wife or their kids."
A meeting last night between representatives from Jair Lynch, Tenant Association Board Members from 5 Jair Lynch buildings, attorneys for the associations and the LEDC was not as helpful as the tenants would have liked. Said Fosse, "This meeting had been scheduled over a month ago and when we got there we were expecting to hear what had been done. But they didn't really have anything tangible to report."
After the jump is a video of the drop-off and here is the specific list of grievances outlined by the LEDC:
· Forcing Spanish-speaking families to sign letters in English stating they will move out within 2, and sometimes 4 weeks, citing erroneous occupancy guidelines
· Suing families for non-payment of rent when in fact the vast majority have proof of payment
· Refusing to assist residents in Spanish, a violation of the development agreement signed between the Tenant Association and Jair Lynch Development Partners
· Losing documents necessary to recertify tenants under the building's Low Income Housing Tax Credit regulations and cancelling appointments with tenants
· 1111 Massachusetts Avenue NW Burke Park Tenant Petition Dropoff [YouTube]
· Tenants Deliver Petition to Affordable Housing Developer Jair Lynch [LEDC]