Rick and Mark Bove no longer plan to evict the tenants from apartments they manage at 300 Main St. in Winooski amid plans for a top-to-bottom renovation of the property.
Instead, the two dozen families — many of whom are refugees with little income — will be able to live at the apartment complex during the renovation, then move into units there that have been refurbished, the brothers said in a statement Thursday night.
After the renovation, the landlords plan to cap the units’ rent at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fair market rate, which they said would allow current tenants to still use Section 8 vouchers and thus continue to be able to live there.
Fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Winooski is $1,500 per month, and it’s $1,854 for a three-bedroom unit, according to the federal government.
“Our intention was never for the renovation project to be a hardship on the current residents,” Rick Bove said in the statement. “So we have course-corrected in hopes that it will mitigate the impact on our current residents and will still provide them with upgraded living spaces upon completion.”
On Feb. 2, the 300 Main St. tenants received a letter stating their lease would terminate for no cause on June 30, and they had to move out on or before that date or face legal action.
News of the planned eviction, first reported by VTDigger, sparked outcry from city leaders and local housing organizations who said it would be difficult, if not impossible, for those tenants to find new housing in Winooski or the surrounding region, especially since many of the tenants live in large, multigenerational households.
Winooski officials and a slate of local and statewide organizations penned a letter to Vermont legislators and Gov. Phil Scott last week, highlighting the Boves’ initial plans at 300 Main St. as evidence of a need for greater tenant protections in the state.
The apartments at 300 Main St. were featured in a November investigation by Seven Days and Vermont Public Radio, which found that swaths of rental properties owned by the Bove brothers were plagued by safety issues and poor maintenance.
In the statement this week, the Boves, of the eponymous pasta sauce brand, said they committed to renovating the apartments in the wake of criticism last fall. Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott said last month many units at the property had since been brought into compliance with state and local codes.
Still, the landlords plan to renovate many aspects of the property starting this summer, including doors, windows, flooring, heating systems and the parking lot.
The Boves plan first to refurbish two vacant apartments at the complex, then allow two households to move into them once work is finished, they said. That process would then continue, with two unoccupied units getting renovated at a time.
The Boves also said they’re working with several local organizations to support the 300 Main St. tenants, including the Association of Africans Living in Vermont, the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and the Winooski Housing Authority.
An online fundraiser for the tenants organized by Winooski Mutual Aid had raised more than $16,000 as of Friday afternoon.
Rick Bove said in the statement that, overall, the brothers were “trying to do better.”
“As a local family business with a deep-rooted 80 years in this community, we are committed to serving our tenants better,” he said. “Overall, we just want to do the right thing.”
