Jessica Owens-Neckien has lived in the Viña Apartments in Denver’s Elyria Swansea neighborhood since 2022, when the 150-unit affordable housing building opened.
Almost immediately, she and other tenants noticed deficiencies in the building, including a lack of trash chute maintenance, insecure doors and broken intercoms and door systems that caused accessibility issues, according to Owens-Neckien. After those issues continued, residents formed the Viña Tenants’ Union in 2023 to help advocate for better maintenance at the 2121 East 48th Avenue property. Currently, the union has over forty members.
But after Owens-Neckien went door-to-door to see if more residents would be interested in joining the union last August, property management served her with a notice outlining her union-related activity as non-compliance with her lease. She would have to stop organizing or risk eviction…