Eagle Watch Estates residents start 'phone blitz' to reach property management company
Residents at a federally subsidized Missoula apartment have launched a phone and email campaign to get a direct line of communication with their building owner after struggling to get a backlog of maintenance and other issues addressed.
Four members of the Eagle Watch Estates tenants union and their advocates spent a few hours making back-to-back calls and sending emails to the building owner, Accessible Space Incorporated (ASI) — a property management company that specializes in subsidized housing — on Thursday, but got no response.
Residents called the Minnesota-based company's main maintenance line and several of the company's top officials in search of a 24-hour staffed call line for emergencies.
"The next phase of this project is working on getting more direct and consistent communication with management here," said Alessandro Mitchell, an advocate from the Missoula Tenants Union.
Eagle Watch Estates is a 24-unit, Section 8 apartment complex for the elderly and disabled.
In January, the complex experienced a complete heat loss after two boilers in the basement broke down , leaving residents to use space heaters during a -15 degree cold snap.
In April, the tenants penned a letter to ASI asking for three main improvements: a full-time, in-house building caretaker; a 24-hour maintenance call line; and more security, including a fence, for the building.
In June, federal Office of Housing and Urban Development officials visited Eagle Watch Estates . Since the visit, a full-time caretaker has been hired for the property. ASI also installed floodlights around the building. Residents said while some work has been completed, there is still a backlog, and no direct line of communication with the building owner.
"Basically what they do, is they do little fixes when they are under a deadline from HUD," resident Barbara Winslow said.
Mitchell said the tenants union is planning to spread the phone and email blitz to other members of the community. He told the press that people who are interested in joining can email .
"We appreciate the work that's been done so far, but we do not appreciate that we have had to wait so long for anything to get done, they have been dragging their feet," said Naomi Winslow, the daughter of one of the tenants. "We want to feel like the people here matter to the management."
ASI did not respond to multiple voicemail requests left by the Missoulian at its Minneapolis office on Thursday and Friday.
ASI Director of Property Management Ken Berry told the Missoulian in May that the company is working to meet residents' demands, but problems with staffing and the increasing costs makes the situation difficult.
"As a nonprofit owner and manager of the property, we have skin in the game here," Berry said in May, noting his organization originally built the complex.
HUD has started requiring deadlines for ASI to meet, according to the tenants.
"HUD continues to actively engage with the property owner and management of Eagle Watch Estates to ensure that required repairs to the property are taking place, and that resident issues are addressed," a HUD spokesperson said in a statement to the Missoulian.
Griffen Smith is the local government reporter for the Missoulian.
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