BOZEMAN, Mont. — Several residents of Bridger Heights, a low-income housing development in Bozeman, say they have been living in unsafe and unhealthy conditions for years, and on Friday they banded together to demand change from their landlord.

Residents were joined by Bozeman Tenants United, as well as Bozeman City Commissioner Emma Bode and Vice Mayor Joey Morrison, as they officially launched a tenants union.

These residents say they have lived with black mold, leaky ceilings and walls, radon exposure, faulty electricity, broken appliances and windows, and that their maintenance requests have gone unanswered or they have received retaliation and threats of eviction.

“We need to be heard and tell the truth about what has been happening in our lives at the hands of our landlords,” said Delisa deVargas, a Bridger Heights resident and member of the newly formed tenants union.

But Friday’s event turned heated as residents marched to the doors of the management office to tape off their list of demands, which include damages for exposure to unsafe conditions and an end to retaliation and no-cause evictions.

That’s when property manager Laura Manners arrived and announced she was calling the police.

By the time police arrived at the scene, the group had dispersed. Manners declined to comment on the incident.

Tom Daniels, executive vice president of 11 Residential, the company that manages Bridger Heights, said they were not aware of the lawsuits before the event, that there was no retaliation against residents and that the building is inspected annually. .

“We just received a 91% inspection from NSPIRE HUD,” Daniels said. “We are proud of the management of Bridger Heights in taking care of our residents there.”

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s National Standards for the Physical Inspection of Real Property evaluate the health and safety of public housing on a 100-point scale. A score of 91 is an A.

But residents shared several photos with NBC Montana showing black mold inside their units.

“The basement apartments have worse mold than the upper units, so I guess that makes me one of the lucky ones,” said Ozaa EchoMaker, a Bridger Heights resident and tenant union member. “But it doesn’t really feel like that.”

EchoMaker has lived in Bridger Heights for five years. She says the presence of black mold is a health concern for her and her five-year-old daughter, as well as other vulnerable residents.

“Almost a large majority of apartments have children,” EchoMaker said. “Those who don’t have children are disabled or elderly, on fixed incomes, and breathing in black mold spores.”

But Bridger Heights resident Evelyn Littlefield, who has lived at the property for ten years, says the tenants’ union’s views don’t reflect those of many residents.

“Every place has black mold,” Littlefield told NBC Montana. “Do you know what you do? You cut an onion, and put a little bowl here and there around your house, and it disappears. It is clarified. I do this myself.”

Littlefield says she’s grateful to have a place to call home, and instead of helping, she fears the tenants union’s demands could put that home in jeopardy.

“I need a home, my kids need a home,” Littlefield said. “Why put all the rest of us in danger and risk?”

NBC Montana was able to verify that 29 of the 50 units that make up Bridger Heights signed the tenant union. Those tenants say that if they don’t receive a response to their demands, they are prepared to escalate the matter.

According to organizers at Bozeman Tenants United, 11 Capital received $6.7 million in federal financing for the purchase of Bridger Heights and is currently in the process of selling the property at a profit to a new group of owners that will include HRDC and Good Housing Association.

“Some of the most vulnerable people in our community, seniors living on fixed incomes, people with disabilities, single parents struggling to make ends meet and having to make really difficult decisions about whether they can feed themselves or pay rent. or to give themselves the luxury of taking care of the other needs they have; “It is precisely the type of people that corporations like 11 Capital and others have decided is precisely the type of item I want in my investment portfolio,” Morrison said. “They have specifically decided that the most vulnerable people in our community are people they can take advantage of, take advantage of, and extort to get as much money as possible.”

Morrison praised residents for forming a union, calling it one of the most effective and reliable ways to initiate change.

City Commissioner Bode echoed that sentiment, saying current and future property owners must ensure safe living conditions on the property and if they fail to do so, they must be held accountable.

“The Deputy Mayor and I are aware and watching this situation, and we are prepared to collaborate with our colleagues on the commission to take action and work within our legal authority as a municipality if conditions in Bridger Heights do not improve.” Bode said.