Ron Garcia
As a professional property manager, I often describe my job as akin to a PCB transformer: to be an adapter in a power struggle, in my case, between apartment owners and tenants. It’s not uncommon to have sparks fly. Over time, however, like AC and DC currents, we are all going in the same direction: We all desire to maintain a quality living unit at a reasonable rent rate.
These days it’s getting more difficult. In the rancor that has substituted for communication over the cures to Portland’s housing crisis, I fear we may have hit a power-grid failure, with negative consequences for everyone.
Portland is one of the world’s 10 most desirable cities according to a recent list in Metropolis Magazine, along with Helsinki, Copenhagen, Sydney and Singapore. Oregon is the fastest growing state in America. There is no question we need to come together to address our housing needs.
But landlords are livid that the city of Portland is forcing them to pay for the relocation of tenants whom they just want out of their properties. They’re stunned that the government would interfere with contractual clauses allowing for the simple termination of an agreement. They are outraged that their income could be arbitrarily capped with no regard to the free market, at less than 10 percent per year. Mostly, they are heartbroken they are not viewed as human beings with sensitivities and budgets of their own – and instead have been characterized as greedy and self-serving.
Tenants are conflicted. Those living in comfortable and affordable homes may not want to rock the boat. Yet they live with the anxiety it could all end with a single notice. Others have felt the hardships of the rising economy and have been forced to find roommates, to move to less desirable locations. Rental housing for them is their life, not their business.
And for those renters seeking new living quarters? They find a brutal and disorganized process with no similar representation such as they’d have if they were home-buyers.
Meanwhile, tenant-landlord disputes are rife with accusations of damage and neglect from both sides.
So I ask: What’s a professional property manager to do? Without owners willing and able to invest in properties, I have no clients. And without tenants willing and able to pay rent I have no income. Has my job devolved into nothing more than a crisis center trying to ward off complaints, collections and lawsuits?
I rely on basic rules to solve problems. One such rule is what I call the ‘zipper theory of life.” When a zipper disconnects, the solution is to move the clasp back to the point of separation and start again.
So how far back do landlords and tenants need to go in order to re-group? I’m not sure. But let’s consider the term “landlord.” This is a title stuck in the past. Who wants to be “lorded” over? We should re-brand property owners as “Rental Property Providers” and encourage them to re-consider the needs of their clientele.
Tenants need to consider their own obligations, as well. They should want to thrive in their abodes and respect the property they live in. Normal wear and tear shouldn’t be an excuse to allow mold to grow, grease to build up, yards to grow out of control or smoke detector batteries to expire.
As I move the housing-crisis zipper back even further, I find the most direct connection from the oldest book in print, the Bible: “Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)
I am encouraged by this: While conflicts like ours have been sparking long before the discovery of electricity, there has always been hope that we can overcome them with decency and dignity in place of disrespect and drama. I, for one, would welcome the opportunity to be part of that process.
Ron Garcia, president of Rental Housing Alliance Oregon, owns The Garcia Group Property Management Company in Portland.
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