Cities need state's help to prevent senior homelessness

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Mayors across the state are dealing with an affordable housing crisis. I get daily calls and emails from low-income seniors who spend almost all their Social Security just to pay rent. I recently heard an 84-year-old man beg for help. "I will be homeless under a bridge somewhere if rent keeps going up like this."

As mayor of Columbia Heights, I believe every community member deserves safe and dignified housing. But one of our largest rental unit managers, Dominium Properties, has betrayed our city's trust with their property, The Legends.

Dominium has 30,000 units across the state, and many of its seniors are facing 12.5% rent increases each year.

What makes this so frustrating is that our small suburban city had such high hopes for this Dominium Property to help alleviate the low-income housing crisis in our community.

In 2017, Dominium Properties began work on a 196-unit affordable housing complex for 55 and older residents in Columbia Heights. The Legends was an exciting project that rallied neighbors, city staff and affording housing advocates. Dominium was also given "tax increment financing." This means that the city of Columbia Heights allowed them to pay their taxes at a lower rate over a long period.

While Dominium is allowed by law to raise rent, they are betraying the spirit of the agreement. Our Columbia Heights City Council asked Dominium to cap rent increases at 3% this year. They have refused.

Due to state law, city councils do not have the legal authority to cap rent, so we brought a group of seniors to the Capitol rotunda to tell their stories. We even had a senior fall on the ice in her attempt to get her voice heard by the Legislature and governor's office. There are low-income senior rent cap bills in the House and Senate that need to be passed.

I am imploring the Legislature and the governor to move swiftly to prevent low-income senior rent increases. This will not cost the government money. We have already offered tax breaks to real-estate developers, and we need to ensure we hold them accountable to keep senior rent affordable. Our cities are on the brink of a senior homelessness crisis, and we need our state leaders to provide solutions.

Amada Marquez Simula is mayor of Columbia Heights.