BREATHE EASY: Both Cascade Management, Inc. and Catholic Charities have confirmed that they’re not more than doubling their tenants’ rents. Whew!
Rick Berkel, executive director of Catholic Charities, which owns McCoy Village, said it was “really unfortunate” that tenants at the complex spent the better part of a day legitimately freaking out that their supposedly affordable housing was suddenly becoming seriously unaffordable.
“An individual employee with Cascade Management took that number and put it in the letter, which is really odd because there are supposed to be several sets of eyes on anything that goes out of the office,” he said. “We made it clear that whoever made that mistake has to be off our property immediately, because they can’t be trusted.”
Tiffany Roderick, director of marketing and communications for Cascade Management, Inc., blamed the snafu on a “lack of communication.”
“It wasn’t really an error in policy,” she said. “The letter was produced by a staffer and it was produced incorrectly.”
When asked if the property management company had removed the staffer from McCoy Village, Roderick was a bit dodgy, saying that “it’s being looked at on the internal side,” but adding that “we are very much in line with what our clients want.”
Roderick did express regret for the letter that undoubtably “caused a lot of panic” for the folks who thought their rent was increasing by more than 100 percent.
READ THE ORIGINAL POST AFTER THE JUMP
So there’s a maelstrom of pissed off people all over Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook losing their collective mind about this apparent humungous rent increase at McCoy Village Apartments in Northeast Portland, And rightfully so, because a $1,005 hike (in income limited apartments, nonetheless) is just complete craziness, even in Portland’s insane rental market.
I’ve been looking into it all day, and I have tentative good news: It’s probably a mistake.
Shelley Marchesi, a spokesperson for Home Forward, one of the two organizations listed on the letter in the photo, said she thinks it’s likely an “honest mistake” by the property management company.
“We did raise the rates of what amount we subsidize on March 1,” she said. “And that increase, the $1,926, is exactly the amount we’ll subsidize for a four bedroom apartment in inner Northeast.”
Marchesi said she believes the property management company—Cascade Management , Inc.—probably saw the rate increase and assumed that Home Forward would cover the difference in the rent increase without a cost to the tenant. But, she was clear that she hadn’t spoken to anyone at the company and was simply guessing.
Marchesi also said Home Forward didn’t know about the proposed increase and that property managers are required to let the organization know 60 days prior to increasing rents that they’re planning to do so. The increase would be effective starting Oct. 1, so Cascade Management hasn’t passed their deadline yet.
Sarah Kenney, a spokesperson for Catholic Charities (the other organization listed on that rent hike letter) said she first heard about the proposed increase this morning via several phone calls. She also said it’s a mistake, and said she’d Cascade would issue an explanation by the end of today, but hasn’t done so as of this blog post.
Cascade Management hasn’t returned a call for comment, but as soon as any new information comes in I’ll update this post.
Note: This post has been modified to indicate Kenney told a reporter Cascade Management would respond by the end of the day, not that she would.
I’d feel worse about the doubling of the rent if they didn’t have a commitment to keeping rents as affordable as possible. Yes, they do. They signed it “Sincerely.”
What’s actually disturbing and very telling about the rental crisis in Portland right now is that there was any doubt at all whether or not this might be a mistake.
No kidding, Avishai. And If it hadn’t been affordable housing we’d be like, “Bummer, dude.”
that’s messed up it’s way too much to pay for rent END THE GREED people
PRETTY GOOD REPORTING TO POST THE STORY BEFORE CONTACTING THE COMPANY THAT WROTE THE LETTER TO CONFIRM
The letter was a story enough, Drunk & Write. Especially considering that the $1926 was mysteriously THE EXACT SAME AMOUNT that the housing authority had set as fair market rent on that unit. #notjustatypo
Also, maybe it wouldn’t have been a “mistake” without all the media attention?!
Does anybody think $2k is a little too much to be subsidizing? Fuck, move to Vancouver. Or Detroit.
No, nobody thinks that but you. Those apartments were built using public money and were intended to stabilize our community. Kicking longtime Portlanders out because you think they cost too much is outrageously callous. Why don’t YOU move to fucking Detroit?
You win, you confused commie.
@drunk&write: Seriously? Property management sends an entire housing development into panic in the midst of the worst affordable housing crisis we’ve seen in decades and you don’t think that’s noteworthy? That someone on their staff decided that they would start charging the top market rate for a 4-bedroom apartment to every tenant regardless of apartment size? You know what I think is noteworthy? IT’S THE SECOND TIME THEY’VE DONE THIS. It happened to residents at Sacred Heart Villa as well.
There was no “Mistake” It wasn’t a typo people. Not until it was blasted at least LMAO.
There was no Mistake or typo. Not until it was blasted at least ha.
@lazaar: Don’t worry. Rent is getting so expensive here that even people lucky enough to have Section 8 vouchers can’t find housing because it’s too expensive. FYI: They still pay a portion of their rent proportional to their income so they’re not actually getting $1926.00 and the maximum allowable rent goes down a couple hundred bucks per bedroom. I wonder who’s going to work all of Portland’s low wage jobs when only the affluent can afford to live here?
Cascade gave huge rent hike letters to tenants at Sacred heart Villa too. This is not the first time they’ve done it. They admitted at SHV they made a mistake so how can they make that same “mistake” again a month later?
Portland will stop being weird soon enough. The weirdos won’t be able to afford to live there. Time for a mass migration, leave and be done with our once great city. The douche bags have planted their flag.
@Lazaar: you aren’t by chance Richard Lazar, are you? Because, if so, your asinine libertarian comments would make a lot more sense.
OH YEAH I FORGOT WHY THIS COMMENT SECTION DIED THANKS FOR THE REMINDER EVERYONE
There better be an audit. The catholic charities And the property manager.
I don’t think it was a mistake it was an attempt to see how much they can raise the rent. These are people making poverty money and can not fight for raises. Now they will have to cut out something like food, medicine, maybe transit. No matter they are the poor and why should we care that they can’t afford increasing rent.