Cal-Am Properties, Inc., the property management company that has threatened eviction for Heritage Village residents in Beaverton over aesthetic appearances of manufactured homes, should instead "redouble efforts" to work with residents, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Oregon, says in a letter sent to the president of the California-based company.
"Cal-Am's new enforcement policies have created significant anxiety for many of the residents at Heritage Village," Bonamici says in the letter to Cal-Am president Cory Sukert, which also was sent to Mark Brubaker, Pacific Northwest manager for Cal-Am Properties.
Heritage Village residents have said that management began sending letters to residents in the community this summer saying home improvements would have to be made or the resident faced eviction. Residents have said the improvements have gone beyond merely cleaning up property, calling for homeowners to remove fencing, decorative exterior treatments as well as removal of vegetation.
Bonamici's letter, which notes that "Northwest Oregon is experiencing a profound housing affordability crisis," also says Heritage Village "offers an opportunity for home ownership and a barrier against rising rents. But Cal-Am's callous efforts to compel residents to make expensive repairs or face eviction deeply troubles me. I'm urging Cal-Am to work with the residents in good faith to find a reasonable solution that keeps people in their homes."
A Cal-Am representative could not be reached Wednesday evening. No one from Cal-Am has responded to Bonamici, whose letter is dated Sept. 2, last Friday, a spokesperson for the Congresswoman said.
However, the company issued a news release in late August saying it had sent written notices to homeowners calling for home inspections and improvements in response to other residents' concerns.
As a result of those notices, the Cal-Am news release says, "Heritage Village is pleased to see that work continues at many home sites and that most of its residents are pleased to see the significant improvements that are occurring."
However, John VanLandingham, an attorney with Lane County Legal Aid & Advocacy Center who specializes in manufactured housing law, cast doubt on Cal-Am's claims, noting that residents in other of its Oregon-based communities have made complaints similar to those at Heritage Village.
VanLandingham, who has been contacted by some Heritage Village residents, also faulted Cal-Am management for the types of improvements it was directing homeowners to make.
"Frankly, the list of repairs includes a bunch of stuff that has no legal basis for termination of a tenant," said VanLandingham, who worked with Bonamici on manufactured housing-related issues when Bonamici served in the Oregon Legislature. "I cannot see in my worst moment how an air conditioner, or lattice on a deck railing, qualifies as disrepair. Disrepair is when the siding is falling off."
--Allan Brettman
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