WINOOSKI — Two dozen families at a Winooski apartment complex — many of whom are refugees with little income — are being evicted from their homes to accommodate renovations that their landlord, Rick Bove, is planning for the property.
The apartments at 300 Main St. were featured in an investigation last fall by Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio, which found that swaths of rental properties owned by Bove and his brother, Mark, were plagued by safety issues and poor maintenance.
A Winooski city inspection in October found multiple issues at the 24-unit complex, the news outlets reported at the time, including cockroach infestations, unserviced fire extinguishers, and kitchen counters and cabinets that needed to be replaced.
Speaking at her front door Friday morning, one resident said she was worried about finding a new place to live.
“I don’t know where to go,” the woman said, her young son looking on through the window. VTDigger agreed not to name the woman because she feared that speaking publicly could further imperil her living situation.
Tenants received a letter Feb. 2 stating their lease will terminate for no cause on June 30, and they must move out on or before then or face legal action. Plans are for the apartment complex to undergo “a major renovation project,” the letter states.
The letter was written by an attorney representing Winooski Housing Venture LLC, a company that is registered to Rick and Mark Bove.
“Your Landlord is giving you a great deal of advance notice so you have time to find new housing,” the letter states.
Paul Dettman, interim executive director of the Burlington Housing Authority — which provides rental assistance to five tenants at 300 Main St. — said the five months of notice residents received is much longer than the 30 days typically required by law.
However, that doesn’t mean the search for housing will be easy, he said.
“From a legal perspective, it’s more than what’s required,” Dettman said. “But practically, can people find alternative housing in that period of time? That’s another question.”
The Burlington Housing Authority, which serves the Queen City as well as surrounding communities, is currently working with about 90 people who have Section 8 rental assistance and are looking for housing in the area, he said.
Another tenant at 300 Main St. — who VTDigger is not naming for the same reasons — said one challenge to finding new housing will be that he’s lived in the United States for less than a year, and so doesn’t know many people here.
“It is very difficult to find a house,” he said. “We (will) try to do (it). But we need to take the time.”
Both of the current tenants VTDigger spoke to said they liked living at 300 Main St., and didn’t see any major issues other than now having to leave.
In testimony submitted to the House Government Operations Committee on Thursday regarding a proposed change in eviction policy in Burlington, Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott discussed the eviction at 300 Main St. and called it “a major displacement.”
Lott wrote that many of the families that will be evicted are multigenerational and so need places that have multiple bedrooms, but units with more than two bedrooms are in short supply in the region, largely because there aren’t enough of those units being built.
She said the Winooski Housing Authority has found that families who receive Section 8 vouchers for housing — which can be challenging to get in the first place — can’t find units for rent within the price and size limits for the voucher.
“This eviction is going to displace 2 dozen families from the homes they may have lived in for years, and likely force them beyond our borders, away from their friends and neighbors, the school that supports them, stores and services they know, and accessible public transportation,” Lott wrote.
Rick Bove did not respond to an email request for comment and more information about the planned renovation.