As city and state officials respond to housing code violations at a Manchester apartment that led to a child getting bitten by a rat last month, advocates say the incident highlights a lack of accountability for landlords and the need to increase supports for new Americans.
On Feb. 16, Nashua-based landlord Hinch-Crowley Realty Associates agreed to pay tenant Mami Tunda, a new American, more than $4,000 after her 7-year-old child was bitten in their Orange Street apartment. Tunda filed a 540-A petition against the landlord for substandard living conditions of a severe rat infestation.
“This is the most severe case I have been involved with in seven years,” said Michael Landry, the city’s deputy director for building regulations, of infestation cases he’s dealt with.
Glory Mukendi, who worked with Tunda to raise housing code concerns to the city through her work at the non-profit Victory Women of Vision, said Tunda is currently living in a shelter and doesn’t plan on returning to the Orange Street apartment.
What advocates want to see from the city
Local advocates, including Mukendi, say Tunda’s case highlighted issues around the city’s slow response to tenants’ complaints. She and others say they want to see more enforcement and accountability towards landlords when housing violations arise.
Landry said after the code enforcement unit first discovered the rodent infestation at the Orange Street apartment on Nov. 19, extermination began immediately and that improvements continue to be made to address the infestation.
When asked what the city plans to do in order to prevent housing violations like that of Orange Street from occurring in the future, Landry said his office “will continue to enforce the Manchester Housing Code which provides a sufficient regulatory framework to address these items.”
Previous NHPR reportingshowed that residents in Manchester had concerns about how the city is enforcing its code. About half of all housing complaints logged by the city's code enforcement in the past decade were concentrated in certain neighborhoods – namely, areas where residents were poorer and more racially diverse than the city.
A 2021 city report on housing noted a broader need for supports for tenants facing housing issues, and suggested creating an online portal that would include information about what’s required of landlords or how to file a substandard living conditions complaint.
In a statement to NHPR, Phil Alexakos, deputy public health director for Manchester’s Health Department, said the city plans on disseminating more information materials in five languages to tenants on treating and preventing infestations.
Henry Harris, managing director for the Manchester branch of the International Institute of New England – which is a contractor with the state’s refugee resettlement department – emphasized the importance of having multilingual services available to tenants. He said the organization recently hired the volunteer who helped translate for Tunda – who speaks Swahili – during court proceedings, full time.
Resources available to tenants
Christine Fajardo, who represents the city’s fourth ward, said the incident underscores how few protections – especially those who do not speak English or are people of color — tenants have.
“There's just such little recourse for tenants right now,” she said.
Sofia Hyatt, a staff attorney at New Hampshire Legal Assistance who represented Tunda, said before she became a lawyer, she hadn’t known what rights she had as a tenant. But she said there are some state laws that can help tenants looking to have housing violations addressed.
One state law lists out minimum housing rights, which Hyatt says is helpful for tenants to know.
Hyatt said there are other ordinances that protect tenants’ rights, including a 540-A petition, which Tunda used to accelerate her case. The statute allows tenants to file a petition or court action against their landlords when the landlord is inadequately addressing a housing issue or is found of wrongdoing that violates a tenant’s right.
“A 540-A petition could at least provide the court an opportunity to look at whether or not they think the landlord has done enough and make a determination,” Hyatt said. “It's certainly a tool that tenants can use.”
If a 540-A petition makes its way to court and a temporary order is issued against a landlord, state law also mandates that for every day a landlord doesn’t comply with the court order, a tenant can receive up to $1,000 per day from the landlord.
Those interested in learning more about tenants’ rights in New Hampshire can read the state’s mandate.
