[B]URLINGTON – A new renter advocacy organization in Vermont’s largest city plans to push for improved housing conditions and to fill support gaps.
The Burlington Tenants Union was started by a small group of residents concerned about the rising cost and lack of affordable housing in the city. Planning for the union began about eight months ago, but the public rollout has occurred in the past few months.
Emily Reynolds, one of the initial organizers of the group, was involved in its creation eight months ago. She describes it as a “collection of tenants who build power.”
“Nobody should be paying more than what they can consider affordable, or 30% of a minimum wage worker’s earnings,” Reynolds said.
The group’s main goals are to obtain just-cause evictions, rent control and increased quality of housing. It also plans to educate citizens around landlord misconduct, and support renters with any issues they have.
Another issue the group aims to tackle – University of Vermont students migrating into off-campus housing in neighborhoods.
The tenants union currently has 350 members as part of its Facebook group, and approximately 40 members who are actively engaged in meetings and events. It eventually hopes to expand to other towns in Chittenden County.
The group’s first public action was a protest outside the former Bove’s restaurant on Pearl Street, which the owners plan to demolish to build a hotel and apartments. About 15 people turned out last Tuesday to wave signs and hand out informational pamphlets.
Charles Winkleman, who helped create the tenants union, wrote a letter to Seven Days criticizing the Bove family as landlords more than a year ago. After being contacted by a former tenant who shared a negative experience, he started a “Boycott Boves” website and social media accounts targeting the family’s pasta sauce company.
The event on Tuesday was in collaboration with Winkleman’s cause. Picketers alleged that the Bove family are “slumlords” who mistreat their tenants and do not adequately maintain their rental properties.
Mark Bove, president of the Milton-based Bove Brothers, challenged the claims made by Winkleman and the tenants union at the picket.
“With, literally, decades of Vermonters (almost 4 generations) who have experienced our values at our café, our growing retail business including real estate development, we think thousands of fans will also politely disagree with this unfair characterization to tarnish our family business and family name,” Bove wrote in an email.
“We proudly continue the Bove’s family tradition today to make great food and treat our community with respect & admiration.”
Winkleman said the tenants union plans to stage monthly protests targeting other Burlington landlords, and send people to council meetings. He said the goal is to gather public support to pressure city government into taking action to address the needs of tenants.
“The hope is that there will be mud on their faces if they’re not willing to hear the real trauma and pain that these tenants are experiencing,” Winkleman said.
Christie Delphia, who has been renting in Burlington for 35 years, said she decided to join the group after being invited by a friend. She said low-income Vermonters are being priced out and living in properties that aren’t well maintained.
“Tenants deserve to live in buildings where they actually survive and not have to worry about things falling apart,” she said.
Delphia, 52, said she rented apartments with a two-inch gap under the front door that let in insects, electrical and plumbing issues, and heating problems bringing temperatures down to 45 degrees in the middle of winter. In each situation the landlords and building managers did not address the issues.
Delphia participated in the union’s first picket, holding a sign calling for more low-income housing. She said rents have quadrupled during her time living in Burlington.
“There’s a huge push here to get more help for low-income people in Burlington, and to get the landlords to fix the properties they charge a fortune for,” she said.
