Residents of two Colorado Springs public housing complexes took part in a protest during yesterday’s Colorado Springs Housing Authority (CHSA) meeting. Members of the Colorado Springs Tenants (COST) and residents of the Acacia Park and Centennial Plaza apartments expressed concerns over CSHA’s refusal to meet or negotiate directly with residents, and residents’ longstanding concerns over conditions in their buildings.
“The only way to counter the fact that working people are constantly told that we’re not smart enough to govern our own lives is to organize just like tenants in these two buildings,” said Will Smith, an organizer with COST. “Organize and stand up to those who tell us that we cannot govern our lives. Stand up and tell those who trample us to respect our power or get out of the way. In the U.S., tenants struggle with deteriorating housing and rents that increase year over year. Corporate landlords buy up vast swaths of housing, often with public dollars, only to jack up rents and squeeze tenants for more and more that they do not have. And even in public housing, as demonstrated by what’s happening in Acacia Park and Centennial Plaza, bureaucrats and politicians keep housing underfunded, perpetuate unsafe conditions, and treat tenants with utter disdain and infantilization.”
Residents of public housing are often elderly, disabled, and at risk of homelessness. “When I need to get to the shower, I run the water for 20 minutes, for half an hour, just to get any hot water,” said Alba Marrero, a resident of Acacia Park Apartments. “If I want hot water for my shower, it floods the downstairs neighbors’ apartments, because I have to run water for so long. And that’s if our water even works at all. I’ve had neighbors that have had to go a week without showering, because the water pressure is so low.”
Janet, a resident of Centennial Plaza, found herself living in public housing after suffering a traumatic brain injury. She described regular flooding from her upstairs neighbor, rendering her apartment practically unlivable. “In the four years that I have lived in Centennial Plaza, my apartment has been flooded four times,” she said. “The most recent flood happened just last weekend. I called the afterhours number to report water flowing from my overhead light fixtures and down my ceiling and cabinets. The immediate issue was resolved, but was in for 16 hours of cleaning. Drywall crumbling all around me, two garbage bags of soggy, unusable food, several loads of laundry, and now my unusable bed … Why was there no communication between maintenance and management? What exactly is their job, then? Where is the accountability?”…