HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-10-25 Public Comment - J. Schultz - Bozeman Right to CounselFrom:Jakob Schultz
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Bozeman Right to Counsel
Date:Tuesday, June 10, 2025 11:19:26 AM
Attachments:Right to Cousel - Public Comment 2025-06-09 - Jakob Schultz.pdf
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Hello,
I am submitting my public comment for the Right to Counsel.
Jakob Schultz
Public Comment 2025-06-09
Hello. My name is Jakob Schultz. I have been a renter in Bozeman for the past 18 years. For
most of that time I have been a Montana State University Employee. I would like to share some
of my experience as a renter and why I think it’s important for families with children, especially,
to have a right to counsel in the face of eviction.
I haven’t been evicted, but I have been displaced. I moved into Family & Graduate housing in
2019 as a staff member. This was a very important move for me as my ex-wife and I had
recently gotten divorced and this was an affordable way for me to have a second room for my
son on a single income. Later my ex-wife and co-parent also moved into Family & Graduate
housing and we were easily able to spend our time 50/50 with my son walking him back and
forth and spending time all together at each other’s places. This was especially important with
the threat of COVID in 2020.
In the fall of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, we were all given notice that the staff program
for Family & Graduate housing was being ended and we would need to leave in 9 months. This
was extremely challenging and unsettling. I was losing my home and the prospects in Bozeman
were bleak. I applied to multiple affordable housing options and got on many waiting lists. I
checked online for rentals almost every day. Bozeman had almost no vacancy at that point in
time and anything available was far outside the range of what I can afford as a state employee.
I was still trying to make sure that I could rent a place that had enough room for both me and my
son. I finally found a trailer in Belgrade that I could technically afford. It was half of my net salary
and double my rent on campus. I needed my father to co-sign the lease with me before the
landlord would agree to rent to me and my parents helped me with the security deposit. Without
my parents’ help, I would not have been able to afford to move at that time. I didn’t have much in
savings after the divorce and all of the costs of setting up my own home for me and my son.
Without my parents’ ability to financially support me, I would have been homeless or needing to
move back to my parents house 6 hours away from my son and my job that I had been working
for 7 years.
This was an okay solution. We had all the space we needed, but the financial strain was
significant. Not to mention the distance, both from my job and from my son’s other house and
school. He has always had his mother’s house as his primary residence to make his life easier
and less complicated. We chose to put all of the strain on ourselves as his parents rather than
splitting him between two homes. But my co-parent had her own strains from being forced to
leave campus. The trailer in Belgrade did not last though and 11 months after moving in, my
landlord informed me that he would be raising the rent by 50% for the second year. This of
course was far outside what I can afford as I was already stretched to my limit.
I moved again. Put my son through another move. With a month's notice this time. The rentals
in Bozeman had increased in price even further in that year. Luckily, I had community. I was able
to rent a room in a house that a mutual friend owned and lived in. It was only because of the
trust between my friend and I that I felt safe moving my son into yet another housing situation,
this time with a new adult.. It was more affordable, but small. I mostly had one small bedroom
with some space in the rest of the house. When my son stayed there his bed that I set up for
him meant most of the room was full. I still stayed there for 3 years, because it was doable and
the rental market hasn’t gotten better.
This year in an effort to create the best life for me and my son, I moved again. This time into a
larger place with my partner. Again, the financial strain is not insignificant, but with two incomes
we’re able to do it.
My son really struggled this time. He’s 10 now and he told me he didn't want to move. He’s tired
of moving. He had a panic attack, his anxiety taking hold when I told them. My son has faced a
double burden of going through not just all of my moves, but all of his mother’s as well. It takes
an emotional strain that no child should need to endure. Children can’t anticipate the future with
the same foresight as adults;they just feel their life being ripped away from them again and
again with every new rental. Without the stability to trust that this time they get to stay. To trust
that this time they’ll get to stay in their school district. That this time they’ll be home.
This particular series of events was set off because I was forced out of my home through no
fault of my own. No parent wants to see their child live in 8 different homes and attend 3 schools
before the age of 10. Eviction would mean more instability for my son and I, after years of
fighting for a place we can call home. Right to Counsel would give me a fair chance at
maintaining the stability every child and every family deserves. I urge the City Commission to
fund a robust Right to Counsel program to keep families in their homes.