HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-13-25 Public Comment - J. Durtka - Bozeman Right to CounselFrom:James Durtka
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Bozeman Right to Counsel
Date:Tuesday, May 13, 2025 12:45:02 AM
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To the Bozeman City Commission:
I have been a resident of Bozeman or Gallatin County for over ten years. For over
half of that, I was a tenant. Even ten years ago some problems were clear, and things
have only gotten progressively worse. I am lucky enough to own my home now, but I
certainly couldn’t afford finding a place to rent today.
Property managers will charge hefty fees just to apply, even when oftentimes it
appears they knew your chances of acceptance were slim to none. Once you have
housing, other issues kick in- additional fees, inadequate parking, lax maintenance. In
many cases, raising maintenance concerns gives your landlord an excuse to
terminate your lease- “We can’t fix the problem while you’re living there”- even though
in many cases they may not fix it at all, and high turnover makes it easier to keep
raising the rent.
After moving out, you may pay cleaning fees over the smallest missed spot, even
though I know I have never moved into a rental and not also needed to clean- I don’t
think they’re actually using those “cleaning fees” to clean!
All of these things have either happened to me in my years of renting, or friends of
mine.
The clear power imbalance between tenants and landlords exacerbates the existing
housing crisis. When I moved here from a small town in Montana over a decade ago,
campers and trailers were predominantly recreational vehicles, not a primary form of
housing. Indeed, it used to be unusual to see people living that way.
It’s counterintuitive to me that the solution proposed by Bozeman and so many other
cities is simply to eject the campers- as if that doesn’t simply result in a large
circulating population of unhoused people throughout the country. This doesn’t even
begin to address the problem - either they'll be back, or someone else who was
ejected from another town.
I grew up poor, with four siblings in a single income household. We spent plenty of
time in Section 8 housing or in campers ourselves. I remember how hard it was for
our parents to even keep food on the table. Worrying about eviction and the fees that
often come with that would have put us onto the streets for considerably longer than
the time we already spent there.
When there are already so many unhoused people, the last thing we need is for it to
be easy and cheap for landlords to evict people spuriously. If leveling the playing field
makes things too hard for the landlords, perhaps they can sell some houses to free
up some housing for the people who need it. More likely they will simply adjust their
business practices a little, but at least there will be fewer people worrying about
where to live next month- or joining the camper contingent.
We’re in a crisis, and the current system isn’t helping. Let’s fund Right to Counsel and
give ordinary people (that’s more than half of your constituents) a fighting chance!
James Durtka
255 Canyon View Rd
Bozeman, MT 59715