Everyone deserves a safe home, one with adequate heating, windows that seal and open, flushing toilets, and safe electric and gas lines.
Everyone deserves a home without mold, with stable floors, and front and back doors that shut and lock properly. A home that has a working tub or shower, a functioning hot water heater, a roof that doesnt leak.
And everyone deserves affordable housing.
If you own your own home or are lucky enough to have a terrific landlord, these things seem obvious.You may even take them for granted. If, however, you are poor, disabled or elderly, the qualities above may resemble little more than a wish list.
Our community has good landlords who take care of their properties, make repairs in a timely manner, and understand that sometimes things happen and the rent may be a little late.
On the flip side, terrible landlords exist as well, those who use the fact that a person or family is poor and in dire need of housing to finagle them into signing a lease on a home they have not even visited.
It sounds stupid. But if you have children, or a sick or pregnant spouse or parent, and a landlord says they will rent out their only available house to someone else unless you get the utilities turned on in your name and sign the lease agreement on the spot, the choice is simple: either no home for your family, or you trust the landlord is honest.
For too many of these renters, they discover the exact opposite is true. Sure, its a mistake to sign a lease without looking at a home and inspecting it with a landlord. But its also illegal. And to take advantage of a person who is struggling to make ends meet, who is trying to find a safe place for their family to live, and trick them into renting a squalid dwelling is reprehensible.
Photos we see of peoples living conditions in some of the homes in Iola often inspire outrage. How these homes continue to be rented out, over and over, without repairs never cleaning up the mold, fixing the electric system, or repairing flooring so that it is stable is confusing to say the least.
When a home is turned into code enforcement for those violations, how can these houses be rented again before they meet the standard of every other home in our town? Better yet, since owning 20 properties is a business, why arent these homes held to the same standards as commercial properties?
If you have questions or know of someone who is living in substandard housing, there are people who can help. Tenants have rights, and we can help you learn what they are. And to all of the landlords who take care of their tenants and treat them as they would like to be treated, kudos to you. Kindness Matters!
