SPOKANE, Wash. -- A group of South Hill tenants are scrambling to find a new place to live after their rent was jacked up $500.
Police were called to a shooting at the Westview Manor Apartments on the lower South Hill back in December 2017. The building owner, Danette Kane, 59, was shot and killed on the property. The building manager survived a gunshot wound to the head. It is a night at Westview Manor tenant Jeremy Logan and his tight-knit group of neighbors will not soon forget.
"We lost our friend and our other friend is blind," he said.
Months after the shooting the residents of Westview Manor are dealt another blow. Logan just received a notice from the new owners of his building South Side Investments LLC.
"We have one month to either get out or start paying 500 extra dollars a month," he said.
The new owners will raise the rent July 1. Logan's rent will be raised by $475. Two bedrooms will go up to $1100 a month, while a one bedrooms will run tenants $900 a month.
“I was kind of expecting it to happen, I thought it might happen, but I didn't know the increase was going to be that much," he said.
Logan said he just cannot come up with that kind of money every single month. He said many of his neighbors are in the same position.
"I am completely up in the air and don't know where I am going to go,” he explained. “It really feels like they are trying squeeze as much out of people as they possibly can."
The new building owner said that is not the case. He said they are raising the rent to meet current prices in the area. He said the building is in need of renovations, including new appliances, new counter tops, flooring and other upgrades. Logan said despite the upgrades the rent hike is still too high.
“We absolutely are being pushed out. I don't know a single person who is planning on staying. Most of us can't afford it," he said.
Logan is currently searching for a new place to stay. He has reached out to the tenant’s union and city leaders. He hopes more can be done to make housing more affordable.