SPOKANE, Wash. — Tenants of a West Spokane apartment building got a 20 day notice to vacate the building in early February.
Saturday is the deadline, and many of the tenants have nowhere to go. State law allows the property owner to do this without stating a reason.
Desiree Blest-Weed and her family moved to the 1907 West Broadway apartment building from Montana last year.
When she received this notice to leave her home in 20 days, she couldn't believe it. Now her family is scrambling to find a place to go.
"Right now, I'm going to just stay with a friend," Blest-Weed said. "My son, Noah, is 18 he has no where to go right now so he will probably be at a shelter. My husband, he's thinking we'll just go to a motel. But we can't afford that."
Some tenants are fighting to stay, while others spent Friday moving and packing.
"I know that a lot of people here have thrown a lot of their stuff away because they couldn't afford to take it with them," Blest-Weed said.
Terri Anderson is a co-executive director for the Tenants Union of Washington state in Spokane. She stopped by the apartment building Friday to educate tenants on their rights in this situation.
"We need to find a way to protect tenants to stay in their homes," Anderson said. "Which is, I believe, the best way to prevent homelessness, is find way to keep people in their home."
She said what's happening to these tenants is not an isolated incident, it's happening all over Spokane. Which is why she believes the City of Spokane needs tenant protections.
"I would like to see the city pass a just cause eviction ordinance that would require landlords to provide cause," Anderson said. "And when they provide cause then they actually required to provide the notice the state requires."
Property Management Partners manages the property. They told KREM 2 the building has a new owner who plans to do new flooring work in all the units. Then, the company will be remarketing the units with higher rent.
As for the city, it's delayed the vote on the tenant landlord protection ordinances to May.
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