Tenants Rights At Stake In Latest Skirmish A2 Tenants Union Forces Y's Hand
"I am staying at the shelter which is a bad place to stay. " -John Doe, ex-YMCA resident
ANN ARBOR - "We're not in the business of making anybody homeless," Ann Arbor YMCA Resident Director Bob Maxwell told AGENDA. Yet, recent actions by the Y have had that unintended consequence for at least one Y resident.
John Doe (so named to protect his privacy) moved out of the Y and on to the streets after receiving a "Notice to Quit" on Feb. 26, 1996. John Doe was just one of 23 people residing at the 100-room Y to receive such a notice.
Eighteen of the "Notices" (the first step in the eviction process) were for non-payment of rent but five of them listed no apparent reason for eviction, simply stating that the lease expired on March 1, 1996 and the premises had to be vacated by April 1 , 1996.
John Doe was one of five people asked to leave without being told why. "Bob Maxwell told me I had to move and would not give me any reason for why I had to move" he says in an affidavit filed by the Ann Arbor Tenants Union in Circuit Court on March 25 by AATU attorney Jonathan Weber. That move by the AATU ultimately proved to be a successful measure to stop the Y from following through with the threatened evictions. Because the Y receives government funds, the AATU argued, they must by law give good cause for intended evictions on the eviction notice itself.
The AATU 's most-recent maneuver in court is part of their ongoing lawsuit against the Y which grew out of a host of lawsuits generated by the Y's default on a city-guaranteed loan. AATU's suit is aimed at forcing the Y to comply with local, state, and federal laws governing landlord-tenant relations and to provide the affordable housing mandated by its contracts with the city. Judge Donald E. Shelton ruled on the landlord-tenant part of the lawsuit on Jan. 5, 1996 when he specified that the Y must abide by the Truth in Renting Act, the Landlord-Tenant Relations Act, and the Forcible Entry and Detainer Act. The affordable housing question is yet to be decided by the Court.
Preventing unlawful evictions was just one aspect of the AATU's most recent formal complaints against the Y. The AATU's most serious allegation was that the Y may be discriminating against mental health consumers. At issue, argued the AATU, was whether the Y's notices to quit were aimed at residents with mental illnesses. Though Maxwell assured AGENDA that this was not the case, Elisabeth Daley, Transitional Employment Coordinator for Trailblazers, an organization that works with mental health consumers, said in a court document that she was "personally aware of five mental health consumers that are Y tenants who have received notices of termination without reason given except the end of their current term." (Daley is also an Ann Arbor City Council member.)
Given the Y's past arguments in court that the Y should be exempt from land tenant laws because it houses many people with disabilities- specifically people who have a mental illness- the AATU argued there was reason to believe that the Y's threatened evictions were targeted at such a population. The AATU cites on-record statements made by Y board members and attorneys which indicate a potential unwillingness and inability on the Y's part to continue to serve their so-called "at risk" residents if forced to comply with landlord-tenant law.
Other complaints aimed at the Y stem from a March 7, 1996 memo issued to all 100 residents of the Y by Bob Maxwell. In that memo, generated by Resident Director Maxwell after Consulting with the Y Board of Directors, Y residents were informed that the following changes would take place effective April 1, 1996: a security deposit of $325 would be collected from all renters on the third to sixth floors, a security deposit of $375 would be charged to tenants on the seventh floor, and the rental rate for the seventh floor would be increased from $325 to $375.
The AATU asked the court to prevent these memo-generated changes from happening as well, citing the Security Deposit Act which prohibits land-lords from charging a security deposit to renters who have been in place for more than 14 days, and Michigan common law which prohibits altering the terms of a month-to-month lease with less than 30 days notice. The AATU also demanded that the Court compel the Y to provide tenants with the handbook, "The Rights and Duties of Tenants," as mandated by the City Charter of Ann Arbor.
"The combined impact of the illegal acts and omissions listed above," the AATU 's brief argued, "is that some tenants are vacating or planning to vacate their homes at the YMCA on the belief that they are being forced from their homes... because of misinformation [and a] lack of information."
In the Y's defense, Maxwell told AGENDA in two separate interviews that the landlord status of the Y and its attendant responsibilities is a "whole new ballgame" and that they're "going to make mistakes."
As for the case of John Doe, Maxwell's recollections differ dramatically from Doe's affidavit: "I did not tell him he had to move. That is totally false. " Doe would have moved out of the Y even without the notice to quit, according to Maxwell, because Doe had personal problems for which he needed professional help.
Maxwell also claimed that only two of the five tenants who received notices to quit without a reason were mental health consumers, and allegations by the AATU of Y discrimination against people with mental illnesses are "absolutely 100% false."
Further, Maxwell informed AGENDA that the Y was not proceeding with evictions against the remaining four residents who received "no-cause" notices, even though Maxwell alleges they were guilty of violating rules and regulations of the Y.
As to the 18 people who received notices for non-payment of rent, Maxwell says that 17 of them have worked out payment plans with the Y and will not face further eviction proceedings.
The March 7 memo demanding security deposits from long-time residents and raising rent on the seventh floor without proper notice was, according to Maxwell, "a mistake." The Y does not need to refund any money to residents, as the AATU claims, because the Y did not collect a dime, not one penny" of security deposits as a result of that memo, Maxwell said. And the rent on the seventh floor will not be raised until May 1 . Further, according to Maxwell, the Y has agreed to distribute to its tenants the handbook, "The Rights and Duties of Tenants," as the city requires and as the AATU requested.
In effect, the Y has ultimately agreed to many of the requests that the AATU was trying to force upon them through the courts. In fact, the Y's attorney on March 29 officially stipulated to AATU's terms (without addressing the veracity of AATU's complaints or allegations of discrimination against people with disabilities). Consequently, Judge Shelton will not get to decide the merits of AATU's latest complaints against the Y.
So far, the AATU views the Y's consent order as "a step in the right direction." Yet, as AATU director Pattrice Maurer pointed out to AGENDA, "Mr. Maxwell 's claims that land lord-tenant law 'is all very new to him' is either a lie or evidence that something is very, very wrong at the Y. As far back as 1993, District Court judges had told the Y that it must follow landlord-tenant law. Someone higher up at the Y is not doing their job or the Y's lawyers are not doing their job."
The Y's refusal in the past to grant concessions without a court battle - and even then only grudgingly - leads Maurer to believe that the Y would not be taking these corrective actions if they had not been confronted with the possibility of a court injunction. The timing of the Y's Feb. 26 notices to quit, their March 7 memo, and the Y's subsequent "education" and about-face, argues Maurer, certainly suggest that the AATU's direct intervention (a March 21 letter from Maurer to Y tenants and the March 25 court filing) was responsible for the Y's recognition and promised implementation of basic tenant rights.
There is even reason to think that some progress has been made and the city may some day come to a resolution of the "Y Fiasco."
Referring to Bob Maxwell's simple and honest admission that he made a "mistake," and to the stipulations agreed to by the Y's lawyers, Maurer remarked: "This is the first time anyone at the Y has admitted to making a mistake. It is also the first time the Y has officially admitted to their responsibilities as a landlord. We hope this new trend will continue and we can sit down with the Y to work out how they can lower the rent."
As for John Doe - he's still homeless at press time. The Y says it's O.K. for him to move back in, no strings attached. Maxwell also told AGENDA that the Y is still accepting referrals from local mental hearth agencies.