To say the victims of the Gastineau fire are experiencing a tough time is an understatement. Everything they owned were either damaged or destroyed in the fire. And even with a tremendous outpouring of community and agency assistance, many of them still have no place to put donated household items. With Juneau’s tight housing market and the sometimes difficult task of saving up security deposits, many displaced by the fire are still crashing on couches, at St. Vincent de Paul and in hotel rooms around town.
Juneau Housing Assistance Program’s Shari Partin, program coordinator and Tamara Rowcroft, general manager, said their organization can help get folks into apartments and homes.
Rowcroft said those displaced by the fire can apply for help with security deposits for new housing.
“We can help find permanent housing,” Rowcroft said.
Partin said she wanted to make a plea to landlords to make themselves available to fire victims and to allow pets, as Gastineau did.
“These folks are all homeless now,” Partin said.
Juneau resident and former resident of the Gastineau Apartments Tara Greene said she is hopeful that the existing apartments can be salvaged.
During the committee’s discussion about the Gastineau fire it was recommended that all renters should invest in renter’s insurance “it’s little more than $20 a month.”
The next meeting of the Affordable Housing Committee is scheduled for December 11.
• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.
Comments (6)
Add commentGood for Gastineau for doing
Good for Gastineau for doing what it takes to get these people in. In my experience though, when a landlord has to make some major concessions to allow someone to rent from them, they will end up regretting it. I don't know any of the people, as far as I know, and I am sure they are great people. I have seen way to many rentals go bad. Every square foot of sheetrock in the house busted, toilet ripped out of the floor, etc. I would proceed very cautiously as a landlord...
Don't judge all renters...
I have had some very VERY horrible renters, and some great ones. Its a challenge to open your home and rent out a room (and I really REALLY wish someone would make more protections for us in the LLTA). However, most will still do their best to con their way out of a lease.
Gastineau should have required everyone to have renters insurance... its such an important aspect when you can't control everything. Otherwise some wouldn't be in their situation right now. State Farm's renters policy is like $18 a month and covers up to $20,000 in property.
Landlords are likely holding out
It's a tough time of year to find a rental as landlords are often making their places available for legislators, and their staff, during session. It's usually a guarantee payer and the places aren't trashed at the end. I'm not saying this will certainly happen with displaced Gastineau folks, but if a landlord has a choice I think they will pick the former.
What's also unfortunate with
What's also unfortunate with situations like this is when people abuse the kindness of those willing to help out. I know of at least one hotel in town who opened their doors for a few nights of free lodging for those put out by the fire, only to have local vagrants who had absolutely no connection to the fire, claim that they were victims and set up camp in the hotel.
rentals
We have seven rental units. I am not negative towards low income renters but I have had some pretty awful experiences. We have helped people by lowering or even not requiring deposits especially in certain circumstances. We have even allowed partial payments and other concessions. We are not deadbeat landlords. For every person who has treated us fairly in return, we have been trashed by two. I remember how grateful they were for our generosity moving in and the mess they left behind when they moved out. Some people just quit paying the rent and move. Others destroy the place on their way out. We have had to evict people who refused to pay rent for months. There are a couple we need to sue to regain the damages they left when they busted the drywall, ripped out and STOLE the carpet, broke bathroom pipes, and broke windows. The effort of suing these folks is more than we can afford both in time and expense. We will never get the money back and they will continue to move from landlord to landlord, trashing rentals, and blaming the owner for one thing or another.
Finally, our current tenants are wonderful. They are nice to us and work hard. Sometimes, the rent is late. We don't charge late fees in most cases even though the rest of the world charges them to us. I am tired of hearing people trash landlords like we're a bunch of rich slumlords. We work hard and we are not rich. Nobody pays our mortgage but us. If we are late, there are late payments. I used to be a renter at different times in my life. Looking back, I was a saint. I always returned a place as good or better than the way I received it. I have always gotten my deposits back. I can't believe the way people leave a place when they go. They abandon their furniture, their groceries, and much of their personal property. Do they really think we want this stuff? We just want them to pay the rent, take care of our property halfway decent, and show us some courtesy. If we have a disagreement, that's one thing - but please, do not destroy our property. I sometimes want to sell all the rentals and go back to a sane life. Anyway, not all renters are bad - and there have been a few that I totally misjudged that looked "really good" when we first rented to them. And, I've also had a few that looked pretty scary when they showed up for the first time and turned out great.
Partin,
If you wish landlords to make concessions for pets( and their damage) and non-payment? Perhaps you could guarantee restitution for said damage? You might even screen the applicants?