JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Across the country, many renters are settling for shoddy living conditions. That's because they have nowhere else to go amid a massive housing shortage. Sam Turken of member station GBH in Boston has the story of one tenant's fight for better housing.
SAM TURKEN, BYLINE: Couple years ago, Marla Castro loved her apartment in Chelsea, Massachusetts, just outside Boston. All the windows that kept it airy, the building's classic Victorian architecture with a big tower overlooking the city square.
MARLA CASTRO: It had a great view of the cars, the sun. It was my happy place.
TURKEN: Castro's landlord quickly fixed problems, never jacked up rent. But then a new company bought the building, and Castro says everything, everything changed. Roaches start showing up everywhere, which Castro believes caused one of her two daughter's allergic reactions.
CASTRO: She was always itching. And I'm always, like, mopping and bleaching. I feel for my kids.
TURKEN: Her bedroom walls and ceiling crumble due to water damage, mold, to the point she has to inflate an air mattress every night...
(SOUNDBITE OF AIR MATTRESS INFLATING)
TURKEN: ...And sleep in her living room. Now, Castro repeatedly complained to her property manager, but says she got the same response - we'll get to it. So finally, she was like, enough. If landlord's not fixing the problems, I'm not paying the rent, which Massachusetts allows for case by case. But soon an eviction notice was waiting for her. Castro panicked. She had already been searching for a new two-bedroom apartment, but everything was too expensive.
CASTRO: It's scary to think that I'm going to be out in the street with my kids. It's just a consistent thing in your mind, like, how am I going to figure something out?
ALEXANDRA ALVARADO: A roof over someone's head isn't just enough. It needs to be safe and healthy, too.
TURKEN: Alexandra Alvarado is with the American Apartment Owners Association, represents landlords. She says, normally, they should have an incentive to maintain their properties 'cause if they don't, renters will choose apartments in better condition. But Jenny Schuetz with the Brookings Institution says that's not happening right now.
JENNY SCHUETZ: Landlords can get away with being not very responsive, providing poor quality housing and still raising the rent on you if they know that you have no place else to go.
TURKEN: Schuetz says poor living conditions can impact people's health, children's development. Like, how can you expect the kid to focus on their homework with roaches crawling nearby? Now, states mandate that apartments are safe and habitable. If not, landlords can face fines until they fix the problems. But Massachusetts housing advocate Isaac Simon Hodes says the process isn't always that simple.
ISAAC SIMON HODES: During the pandemic, a family finally complained more forcefully about huge conditions issues, and the landlord threatened to have them deported. And then, what do you know? ICE shows up and takes one of the tenants into custody.
TURKEN: There's also fear of rent hikes or what happened to Marla Castro this spring. She and I kept in touch as she got a lawyer, fought the eviction. Her landlord, a company called Broadway Capital, fixed some problems. But the case dragged on in court and took a toll.
CASTRO: I got anxiety. I got, like, you know, childhood traumas, everything. Like, I just need to know what's going on. I just need somebody to let me know everything's going to be fine.
TURKEN: Finally in July, trial day - but right before the judge heard the case, Broadway Capital - they agreed to forgive all $12,000 in withheld rent. Castro just had to move out in six months. Back home, she said she could finally breathe a little.
CASTRO: This was mentally and physically draining. But I'm not going to have nobody walk all over me.
TURKEN: Broadway Capital says they settled because they should have handled Castro's complaints better. The company's owner, Mike Vienneau, says he's expanded his property management team to be more responsive.
MIKE VIENNEAU: We're heading in the right direction. We still have work to do. All of our tenants should have clean, safe and habitable conditions to live in.
TURKEN: Meanwhile, for Castro - well, she's still searching for a new apartment. For NPR News, I'm Sam Turken, in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
(SOUNDBITE OF LUPE FIASCO SONG, "SAMURAI") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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