Events

Tenant Rights Bootcamp Coming to Greenwood

February 22, 2017 5:57am

 

Recently a friend and I walked Green Lake and chatted about some changes to her rental agreement her landlord was demanding and to me didn’t seem quite right.  I recommended calling the City’s ombudsmen. This is the part of the story where the record stops and you think, wait… what year is it? There’s got to be something a bit easier than calling the city to find someone to help. Right?

Yes.

Ironically I just got an email from a group that seemed like just the fix that 2017 needs. Tenant Rights Bootcamps are a free series empowering renters to learn their rights, find solutions to various issues, and make change in their community. The series provide an opportunity for renters to learn from people who know landlord/tenant law, civic engagement, and community organizing.

“Our goal is to break down barriers to finding help or information and bring that straight to folks right in their own neighborhoods,” said Devin Silvernail, the Executive Director of Be:Seattle Organizing that runs the bootcamps.

The group is relatively new but is getting requests from Bremerton to the Eastside.

“People are feeling the pressure – rising rents, more complicated rental situations, worries about no-fault evictions, troubles getting repairs, etc. To top it off, the city passed a bunch of laws last year aimed at helping renters, but unless you are up on that sort of thing, chances are you haven’t heard about those laws,” said Silvernail.

Interested?

The next Tenant Rights Bootcamp is March 8 in Greenwood at Makeda & Mingus (153 N 78th St) at 6 p.m. A counselor from the Tenants Union as well as 3 other group leaders who specialize in tenant law will also be on hand to answer questions. For more info on this program, go to: seattletenantbootcamps.org.

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