Help a trans family fight their eviction

When your slumlord hires unlicensed workers to save money, and it's not until you ask the local building inspector to do a house call that you find she created a monoxide leak in your basement, you might realize the broken hatch to the basement is the only reason the leak had somewhere to escape other than your home.

When your slumlord hires a homophobic property manager, and it's not until you catch him on video breaking into your neighbor's unit and calling you a pedophile that the slumlord decides to fire him, you might realize you aren't safe when a police report is filed because the former property manager is now breaking into units at night and squatting, and he hasn't been found.

This is pure chaos. We really need help.

I'm starting this local Massachusetts fundraiser to raise emergency funds for my sisters and me. I'm not looking for this fundraiser to receive national attention. I would simply like neighbors and local community members to chip in and help us stay afloat as we navigate this situation.

We're a trio of trans fems in Northampton, MA dealing with a retaliatory slumlord attempting to illegally evict us. Our neighbors upstairs are also being targeted. We have been struggling with unsafe conditions and we need financial aid to make it through until we go to court. Much of the financial aid we're requesting is to get legal representation; we need $4,800 in an escrow by August 24th (the rent we've withheld) for an attorney to consider taking our case.

The gas has been shut off and the property manager refuses to fix the monoxide leak and turn it back on. We've been without gas (our hot water and stove) for several weeks now. The property manager is repeatedly changing names on our mailboxes to VACANT, resulting in our mail being returned while we live here. There's an uncovered hole to the basement hatch next to my back door, making it dangerous to navigate. The property manager refuses to replace the light in the back so it's impossible to use at night.

Retaliatory behaviors from the property owner are piling up. We're reaching out to neighbors in our building to make sure they are informed of their rights and know which housing code violations our property manager is obligated to fix. We've had to buy equipment to heat up water in buckets and pump it through a battery powered shower head. We have an electric-powered 2-burner mini stove on top of our actual stove extension cords running through the apartment to make up for the lack of gas. There has been a contractor attempting to enter our unit when we're not home, despite our best attempts to ask for appointments. We are lucky in having been able to prevent entry, as our neighbors in the building have had their units entered without consent many times now.

If you're reading this, it's because one of three of us in our trio reached out to you and shared this with you. This is unexpected, urgent and serious for us. Do everything you can to donate and/or share this fundraiser. We take pride in being an active part of our community, working to help bring food and supplies to those in need, particularly the queer and/or houseless folks in our area who are home in Northampton, who feel safest here to be themselves but still need support to get by.

This time, we need the support, and that's why we're reaching out. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for reading this and thank you for any and all help you can send our way. Wish us luck in our fight against our slumlord.

Housing is a human right,

Ari

Eevee

Seána