The Issues
Front line workers, without front line protections.
The people who staff apartment communities, more than 75% of onsite administrative staff are women of all ages and backgrounds, stand at the center of the housing, homelessness, and mental health crisis with none of the protections other frontline workers receive.
Serving notices alone
Sheriff's departments typically require two officers to serve a court-ordered eviction writ. Current law expects a lone property employee, often a woman working alone, to personally deliver notices to the same household, without protection.
Unauthorized occupants and squatters
Removing dangerous unauthorized guests or squatters can take months through the courts, while staff and neighboring families live with the consequences. Cleanups afterward can involve genuine biohazards, including needles, drug residue, and human waste, requiring specialized crews.
Slow or no police response
Staffing shortages mean officers respond mainly to imminent-danger calls. That leaves untrained staff to de-escalate volatile situations themselves.
Reporting that exposes neighbors
In Washington, removing a problem resident generally requires the complaining party's name and complaint. Vulnerable residents stay silent rather than risk retaliation.
A mental health system that hands us its gaps
Decades of deinstitutionalization without adequate community support mean untreated serious mental illness is now managed, in practice, by leasing offices without clinical training or resources.
No seat at the table
The people with the most day-to-day experience of these problems, frontline housing staff, are rarely included when housing laws are written.
Both sides deserve safety
Residents deserve stable, safe homes. Staff deserve a safe workplace. Those goals are not in conflict, and policy written without frontline experience tends to miss both.