A Tacoma fire displaced 42 people. Some are still reeling, even with help on the way
For 22-year-old Maya Lee, the apartment she moved into in early April with her boyfriend was a first.
Together, they’d saved up for three months, coming up with enough money for the rent and security deposit, as well as the furniture and decorations that help to turn a small unit into a home.
That’s what made what happened nine days later — when an early morning fire consumed her building at Forest Hill Village in Tacoma — so devastating, she said.
In the blink of an eye, Lee was back to square one — without a place to live, or the money to quickly move on. She escaped the flames — with her boyfriend and her two Pomeranians, Cubby and Izzie — but everything she’d worked for was gone, including the clothes she needed for work.
“We just completely lost everything,” Lee told The News Tribune this week. “It was definitely a learning experience.”
Perhaps that’s putting it mildly, but there’s little doubt that was has transpired since the April 19 fire at Forest Hill Village — which investigators have yet to determine the cause of — has provided a quick education, not just for Lee and the other displaced residents, but for the regional property management company that owns the complex.
In the aftermath of the blaze, many tenants were temporarily housed in hotels by the Red Cross. They were also forced to learn the limited protections they had as renters, particularly as questions soon arose about what they were entitled to and what they were still obligated to do under the terms of their lease. Today, some — like Lee — have been able to cobble together enough money to find new places to live. Others, like 40-year-old Vanessa Henriquez-Ray — who was also displaced by the April fire — are still without a permanent home.
At the same time, according to Pacific Living Properties CEO Jeff Miller, figuring out how to respond to the fire at Forest Hill Village — which is one of many apartments in the company’s portfolio, and estimated to cost millions of dollars to repair — was new territory, he said. In total, Miller indicated that the company’s lease files show that 42 occupants in 15 units were displaced by the fire.
Recently, the company launched a GoFundMe campaign that has so far raised nearly $16,000. Speaking to The News Tribune, Miller said the plan is to distribute all of the proceeds to the residents displaced by the fire. He also promised that Pacific Living Properties would soon be cutting checks to refund security deposits and the unused portion of April’s rent.
“We care about our community. We care about the residents,” Miller said, noting that donations from Pacific Living Properties and company employees accounted for at least $10,000 of the GoFundMe campaign’s total, including $3,000 he personally pledged.
“This seemed like a good way to contribute,” he said.
For former tenants like Lee and Henriquez-Ray, it’s welcome news that helps to alleviate a month of anxiety and uncertainty. Both told The News Tribune that they were originally informed by members of Pacific Living staff that rent for May would still be due, and that there would be no security deposit refunds.
Lee included the prospect of rent still being on the hook for rent in her own GoFundMe plea, which was launched in the days after the fire and has so far raised $1,900 of its $5,000 goal.
Henriquez-Ray, on the other hand, said she filed a complaint with the state Attorney General, suspecting that something foul was afoot.
On Tuesday, Brionna Aho, a spokesperson for Bob Ferguson’s office, confirmed that two such complaints were made, and that both are being reviewed.
Aho also said that the AG’s office is “reaching out to the landlord, and attempting to connect former tenants with resources.”
Asked about the allegations, Miller described it as a miscommunication that he can’t explain. He was adamant that the company never planned to charge rent for May, and that none had been collected from displaced tenants.
“Really, we’re just trying to help them. I don’t know how that all came about,” Miller said of the confusion, indicating that he would “provide the information that I am giving you” to the state Attorney General’s office.
During a follow-up interview on Thursday, Henriquez-Ray said that, so far, no one from Pacific Living has contacted her to discuss refunds or the plan for distributing money raised via the company’s GoFundMe.
According to Mark Morzol, managing attorney at the Tacoma-Pierce County Housing Justice Project, whether tenants could still be charged rent for a unit that was made uninhabitable by fire (even as preposterous as that sounds) is just one of many questions renters face in a difficult situation that very few are prepared to handle.
When it comes to whether or not rent is still due, the short answer, Morzol said, is no.
“When a premises become functionally unlivable, (tenants) can terminate their rental agreement and move on,” Morzol said. “There’s no firmer example than when a place burns down.”
Still, that doesn’t mean the situation is cut and dried. There are a number of factors at play, Morzol said, including how extensive the damage is and how quickly repairs can be made. In many cases, a security deposit refund would be due within 21 days, he said, which in this instance is a timeline that’s already been exceeded.
Another important consideration is the circumstances of the fire, Morzol said, which is crucial when determining who can be held liable and whether or not state and local laws entitle displaced tenants to financial relocation assistance.
If a landlord rents a unit that has been condemned or fails to make a necessary repair requested by a governmental authority, then they can be required to pay tenant relocation costs, Morzol indicated. If the landlord is deemed responsible for the blaze, they can also potentially be held responsible for personal injury claims, he said.
Most of the time, however, Morzol said none of this is the case, resulting in situations that often leave “a bunch of people pointing at each other,” he said.
“You’re left with a tenant that has lost all their belongings, and they’re pointing at the landlord saying, ‘Hey, help me out here.’ And the landlord is like, ‘Hey, I can’t help you out. My building burned down. It’s not my fault,’” Morzol said.
“All of these options … are oftentimes not super helpful.”
That’s certainly been the case for Lee, who said it was the timing of her tax return that allowed her and her boyfriend to rent a new apartment, not far from Forest Hill. Along with her two small dogs, the couple moved in last weekend, after staying in a local hotel for nearly a month, thanks to the renter’s insurance she purchased.
Meanwhile, Henriquez-Ray continues to wait. She’s been living at an Extended Stay, and said news of Pacific Living’s plan to refund rent and security deposits, as well as distribute the money raised through the GoFundMe effort, will help.
She also wishes it hadn’t been this difficult.
“I’m definitely excited that they’re at least saying that now. Absolutely,” Henriquez-Ray said.
“I just know that a lot of us were really terrified at first.”
