After residents speak up, City Council clarifies tenant protections

Austin American Statesman

Beatriz Garcia did not wait to receive a 30-day notice to vacate. 

The mother of three said she and her husband started immediately hunting for a new home in December after they learned their East Austin apartment complex would be bought out and would soon undergo renovations, forcing tenants out. 

The family had lived at Santa Fe Apartments for eight years. The complex is close to her husband’s job, as well as the schools and doctors' offices her family goes to.  

They moved out in February and did not pay their last month’s rent so they could afford the move. She said her family got lucky, but that is not the story for many of her neighbors.

“They're facing uncertainty,” Garcia said. “They don’t know where they're going to go or how they're going to go there.”  

More than 40 tenants at the Santa Fe and Clayton Lane apartments in East Austin expect they'll be told to leave eventually because of ongoing renovations. 

In 2016, the city implemented the Tenant Notification and Relocation Ordinance with the intention of helping residents through this situation. The ordinance requires owners to notify forced-out residents several months in advance and, in some cases, provide relocation assistance for displaced tenants. 

More:As Austin grows less affordable, more tenants fight for rights, but it's short-term fix, they say

However, owners of the complex argued that the ordinance did not apply to Santa Fe or Clayton Lane.

“The project is not a redevelopment,” said Jason Kraus, the attorney representing the developer. “It is not being torn down. It is not having extra structures added to it. The city ordinance does not apply here."

Some Austin council members disagree with that interpretation, and they voted Thursday to expand the law's language to clarify that it applies to interior remodels that create permanent displacement. The amendment also applies to renovations that do not require city permits.

"Thank you to the residents for sounding the alarm," Council Member Kathie Tovo said. "Unfortunately, that is the way in which we are able to make changes and provide tenants protection throughout the years. People who are impacted by changes ... spoke up and got attention to that."  

Fighting together

The new owner, Patrick Duke — who does work as DCM DL Clayton Lane LLC and DCM DL Santa Fe LLC — purchased the properties several months ago and has been making several improvements to the building. 

The project, Kraus told the American-Statesman, involves cosmetic remodeling of the property: installing new energy-efficient windows, siding and insulation along with new flooring, drywall repair, paint and cabinetry.  

“To say it is a redevelopment is a mischaracterization of the work that is being done,” Kraus said.  

Tenants have been on month-to-month leases for several months, some for as long as a year, which attorneys for the developer said “offers flexibility for tenants and the owners, because it gives tenants the ability to leave after 30 days’ notice without having to worry about the legal, financial or negative credit ramifications of breaking a lease.” 

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But many residents said they didn’t have an option when it came to signing the month-to-month lease. 

Sandra Brown, who has lived at the complex for about a year, said she has been looking for a new place with the help of her social worker through the nonprofit Communities in Schools. A single mother of two, she moved into the complex because it was close to her children's school.  

With the goal of staying close to the area, Brown said she has been looking for apartments nearby that can accommodate her family, but the soonest she could get a new lease was June.  

“Everyone is just trying to get more time,” Brown said. “We understand we have to get out, but we need more time.”

Tenants at the two properties eventually organized to form the Clayton Lane and Santa Fe United tenants association with the help of housing advocacy group Building and Strengthening Tenant Action.  

BASTA, a nonprofit that helps residents advocate for their rights as tenants, has helped create more than two dozen tenants' associations across Austin since 2016 — a demand they attribute to the decline in the number of affordable housing options.  

More:As Austin grows less affordable, more tenants fight for rights, but it's short-term fix, they say

Sass, a member of the association's steering committee, said the group sent a letter to Duke asking for better communication and more time.

The tenants association also collected 59 signatures — almost every household — for a petition to request a meeting with Duke, which was denied.

Duke told them he would notify all tenants who signed the petition that they violated their leases for participating in a tenant organization, and he said their leases could be immediately terminated, per an email shared with the American-Statesman.  

But according to the Texas Property Code section 92.331, a landlord may not retaliate against tenants, including terminating a tenant lease, for establishing or participating in a tenant organization.

Seven leases are terminated each month, Kraus said, in a manner that will allow crews “to efficiently work on one area of the complex at one time and reduce noise and disturbance to the remaining tenants without terminating all complex leases at the same time.”  

But that does not give residents a lot of time to find living arrangements in their price range, some have said.

Kraus told the American-Statesman they have extended stays for a few residents upon request. Brown said she has not been offered an extension.  

'Need more time'

Since tenants were placed on month-to-month leases, they've been living on the edge about being forced out at any time. 

They have also complained of living in an active construction zone, meaning constant noise, water shut-offs, dust and internet connection loss.  

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Georg Gu, a tenant at Santa Fe Apartments, told the American-Statesman that he has been awakened at least three times at 5 a.m. by the trucks delivering dumpsters for construction materials.  

Kraus said the city of Austin allows for work to be performed from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekends, and that crews are not working outside those hours.  

Several residents have said they have been looking for a new apartment for months but have been waitlisted until at least June, adding that the costs of deposits and fees are also difficult. 

“I need more time in order to move, in order to find a cheap apartment, and the stress of all of this is affecting my job,” resident Claudia Dominguez said.

'Close these loopholes'

The tenants live in the district of Council Member José "Chito" Vela. He believes the owners' interpretation of the ordinance is inaccurate but called for an amendment to the ordinance to make it clearer.  

“If it's too narrow, then we are excluding people who should be benefiting from this ordinance,” Vela said. 

Council Member Sabino “Pio” Renteria agreed.

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“We are here to close these loopholes," Renteria said. "The intention was always total protection for our tenants, especially our low-income tenants. There is a lot of pressure out there because of the way that Austin is growing, but that is no excuse for having people come in buying low-income apartments and then evicting people. We are not going to stand by and tolerate these types of activities.”  

In response to a yearslong pattern of displacement of Black, Latino and low-income families from neighborhoods in Austin caused by gentrification, city officials this month will also kick off a program that aims to prioritize those families' applications to buy affordable housing.  

The change approved Thursday will require the owner to give tenants the additional time they need to find a new apartment, Vela said.  

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Kraus did not offer comment on the change.  

“We don’t want to see people on the streets,” Vela said. “We really don’t want to see people dislocated like this. When I spoke with tenants, what they wanted more than anything was more time, and this will give them that.”