Easthampton tenants call on City Council to back solutions to rent increase ‘crisis’
EASTHAMPTON — An Easthampton renter said her landlord notified her in August that her rent would be going up by 30% and had one month to decide if she would stay or go.
“I work two jobs ... and I can barely make ends meet,“ said Mona Shadi at an Easthampton City Council meeting Wednesday night.
Shadi, a resident of an apartment owned by Pine Valley Inc., a realty company based in Easthampton, said other tenants at her apartment have been hearing about the same increases.
Residents at other apartments in the city, including at Pleasant View Apartments and 17 Adams St., said rents have ratcheted up between 10% to 50%, with little to no investment in the properties, according to Springfield No One Leaves.
Shadi said Wednesday night that she works 74 to 80 hours a week during the high season at her two jobs but would have to consider getting a third or fourth job to support the raised rent costs.
“If you think my situation sounds brutal, you don’t know my neighbors, who are on pension, disability, Social Security or a combination of those,” she said. “They can’t go out and get a job. They are terrified. We have a crisis on our hands.”
The fear, explained by many tenants at the Wednesday meeting, is that out-of-state, corporate landlords, like Rowin Capital, the New York City owners of the Pleasant View Apartments in Easthampton, are emboldening local landlords to balloon rents.
“We were told, ‘Well, if I don’t raise the rent, I might have to sell to a corporate landlord,’” said Shadi. ”Do you know that corporate landlords are ruining Easthampton?”
Pine Valley Inc. is a local property management company run by Julia Gawle of Easthampton, according to filings with the Office of the Secretary of State. A reporter could not immediately reach Gawle for comment Thursday.
Most renters who spoke out at the meeting on Wednesday said they were from Easthampton, moved there for the quality of life, or were working class people looking for a place to call home.
Kelly Hutchins, a native Easthampton resident who has been renting a unit on Park Street for 15 years, said her rent skyrocketed by more than 50%.
“My rent went up 51.5%. My income doesn’t go up that much. ... How am I supposed to afford to live here?” she said. “And if I can’t afford my rent, where do I go?”
Earlier in the year, the council signed a resolution supporting statewide rent control , which would allow municipalities to implement rent stabilization measures and tenant protections.
Now, tenants are asking the council to back other solutions for renters.
Kiam Jamrog-McQuaid, a research analyst for the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, said the city should be doing everything it can to protect its tenant population.
About 40% of the city’s population rents apartments, according to the American Community Survey’s five-year projection from 2023.
The data suggests over 4 in 10 renters are paying more than 30% of their income on housing costs, Jamrog-McQuaid said, making them cost-burdened, in a position of choosing between spending money on rent, or food, health care, transportation or education. More than 1 in 10 residents pay greater than 50% of their income on housing, which is referred to as extremely cost-burdened.
“That’s before the current economic situation that we’re in. That’s before the actions of our federal government. That’s before we started seeing this increasing predatory investment in our housing market. With 30, 40, 50% increases at once ... it’s unacceptable,” Jamrog-McQuaid said.
He said the institute has created a rent study committee and is working toward getting a home-rule petition for rent control passed. He also suggested emergency rental assistance and building a community land trust as other solutions for the city to help renters.
“I think that we need all hands on deck. This is a crisis, and we need every voice, every microphone, every megaphone speaking about this,” he said. “It’s foundational. Housing is how people connect to the community. It determines who is in our community.”
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