Bozeman tenants unionize, threaten rent ‘strike’ over alleged issues

Property manager calls police to break up protest, says the complaints are ‘stupid.’

By Matt Standal, MONTANA FREE PRESS

More than 40 members of Bozeman’s Tenants United staged a protest at the Bridger Heights apartment complex on Friday, announcing they’d successfully unionized the government-subsidized property and threatening a rent strike over what they say are failed maintenance issues, safety problems and illegal retaliation from the company that manages the property.

A total of 29 units at the apartment complex have signed onto the union, according to organizer Emily Lashelle, who helped stage the protest. Police were eventually called by property management, although no arrests were made. 

“This needed to happen many years ago,” Lashelle told Montana Free Press. “The current landlords, 11 Capital, need to be held accountable. They’ve been profiting off the rent money, the tax money and the government subsidies to build and buy these buildings that aren’t being maintained.” 

Chanting “Not one more cent for the slum lord” and “Our money for our homes for our people,” tenants delivered a list of demands to 11 Capital, which operates the largely government-funded, Section 8 housing complex that includes approximately 50 units that rent for below-market value.

Citing maintenance problems, including untreated black mold, radon, plumbing issues and unreasonable apartment inspections, the group demanded a payout of $5,000 or 50 percent of the total rent paid to 11 Capital for each tenant. The tenants also asked for rent negotiations and other stipulations related to a future sale of the complex. While a rent strike is possible, union organizers were adamant that the tenants’ union has not voted to authorize that escalation.

Bozeman Deputy Mayor Joey Morrison and Commissioner Emma Bode attended Friday’s rally, and both spoke in support of the newly formed union.

“This is an issue that I know keeps a lot of the commission up at night,” Morrison said, addressing the crowd and reminding those in attendance that it is illegal under the Fair Housing Act for landlords to retaliate against tenants who seek to form a union. 

“It shouldn’t have come to this,” Bode told those gathered for the protest. “11 Capital and other corporate landlords should do better by their tenants.”

Tenant Ozaa Echomaker told MTFP she’s been living at Bridger Heights since 2019 and feels “trapped” in her apartment by government regulations that restrict how much time she can spend taking college classes and how much money she can earn as both a university student and a single mother. 

“This is the only place in Bozeman I can afford, and I can’t afford to leave,” Echomaker said. “It’s a double-edged sword.” 

Asked what she’d do with her $5,000 payout, as the union demanded, Echomaker said she’d use it to put a down payment on a different apartment and move out of Bridger Heights.

For tenant Delisa DeVargas, who said she’s lived in the complex for 14 years, the demands are just one way the union is holding what she describes as their “corporate landlords” accountable. 

“The buildings are falling apart,” DeVargas said, “There’s no security — security systems or surveillance — and I feel like they work really hard to silence our voices.”

DeVargas went on to say she believes the success of other tenant unions around the country is evidence that the model can work here in Bozeman. She said the government should hold landlords who work with Section 8 tenants accountable when they fail to adequately maintain their properties. 

“I want to see the landlords brought to task for the mess they’ve made, not just of the property, but of people’s lives,” DeVargas said. 

However, because 21 units at Bridger Heights have not signed onto the union, there’s a sizable group of tenants who do not agree with the demands, said property manager Laura Manners, who called police on Friday and threatened trespassing charges against those gathered for the protest. 

Manners told MTFP she felt blindsided by the protest. While she initially supported the organizers from Bozeman Tenants United, the group quickly fell out of favor after causing disturbances around the property, she said.

“They’ve been knocking on people’s doors relentlessly, and they won’t leave them alone,” Manners said, describing the list of demands she was handed on Friday as “stupid.” 

She said Bridger Heights residents include the elderly, those facing issues with domestic violence and vulnerable people with mental health issues who don’t want the extra attention from the tenant’s union. 

“They’ve latched onto this property for whatever reason, and it’s ridiculous. We have residents who can’t stand having them on the property,” Manners said.

Friday’s event makes Bridger Heights the second successful union project by Bozeman Tenants United, following a similar flip of the nearby Bridger Peaks apartments last year.