November 21, 2024
Aurora, CO — Housekeys Action Network Denver (HAND) and Redress Movement strongly denounce PMI Aspire’s treatment of residents at Whispering Pines Apartments. Since assuming management in October 2024 through a court-appointed receivership following severe violations by CBZ Management, PMI Aspire has perpetuated the cycle of neglect. Despite rampant ongoing issues such as broken plumbing, inadequate heating, and pest infestations, PMI Aspire continues to charge full rent, and has in fact charged two months worth of rent in one month and a half. To add insult to injury, they are now pressuring residents to vacate by offering a bribe of $1,200 — less than the cost of one month’s rent and far from enough to cover relocation expenses. They are also manipulating tenants into signing paperwork forfeiting their right to future litigation in order to receive the $1,200 check. Knowing that they have these funds available to dedicate per household and could be offering a $1,200 discount on rent whilst they are in the process of bringing the apartments up to standard, or even using those funds on each unit to make the units livable, makes their chosen use – to incentivize them to leave under threat of eviction – even more insidious. Instead, they are forcing arbitrary deadlines on tenants and saying they must completely move out without any regard for where they will move to, with the vast majority not having had enough time or resources to find alternative housing – sending them to the streets. Rather than addressing critical maintenance failures and improving the living conditions for tenants, PMI Aspire is displacing their residents to avoid fulfilling their obligations. HAND and Redress Movement demand immediate action to ensure these residents are treated with dignity and respect and that their homes are made safe and livable.
Aurora City Councilwoman Allison Coombs stated to Redress Movement that the city is aware of the issues with the Helena Street building. Coombs wants to emphasize to residents that the Aurora Police Department is not currently involved in this legally-questionable eviction process, and that only the county sheriff can carry out actual evictions, despite the threats of police action that management has been using to intimidate residents into forfeiting their rights and vacating without due process. If residents of any building in Aurora ever receive notices that they will be evicted without a 30-day warning, and then take their case to court, then this would be found to be an unlawful order.
Despite the police’s statement on this, City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky was seen over a week ago visiting tenants’ units alongside PMI Aspire to threaten them with eviction and tell them not to work with community organizations, as quoted by a resident living there. Furthermore, PMI Aspire threatened HAND organizer V Reeves with trespassing for outreaching, organizing with, and educating tenants on their rights in attempts to isolate tenants from community support. As Jon Marcantoni of Redress Movement and Mohamed K, a concerned Aurora resident, approached PMI Aspire staff on Monday to inform them that offering checks to tenants to abandon their housing immediately was illegal, they received similar threats in response.
Instead of intervening to denounce the actions of new management and hold them accountable to a legal eviction process over bribery, the City has suggested that residents at Helena Street apply for housing assistance funds from Arapahoe County, and that after doing so, also apply for City housing assistance. Unfortunately, County funds are for the most part restricted to those with citizenship status, rendering them useless to the majority of current tenants. Furthermore, moving the tenants out of this building only serves to further displace marginalized people from a neighborhood so that management can attempt to further gentrify the area, making it less affordable for those living in neighboring buildings.
Jon Marcantoni of Redress Movement adds, “The lack of knowledge of the eviction process is placing all Aurora residents at risk of intimidation and scare tactics from abusive landlords such as PMI Aspire and CBZ Management. While our organizations seek to educate the public, it is also the responsibility of the City to enforce protections of tenants in accordance with the law. We appreciate the support of certain City officials in correcting these wrongs, but verbal support must be followed by official action. This includes: effective code enforcement, tangible consequences for abusive landlords, and more accessible reporting tools for tenants.”
Media contacts:
• Jon Marcantoni with Redress Movement – 719-646-8361, jmarcantoni@redressmovement.org
• Mohamed K, local concerned citizen and activist – 314-775-7990, mskuziez@sanjuanbautista.edu
• V Reeves with Housekeys Action Network Denver – 701-484-2634, info@housekeysactionnetwork.com
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