Pierce County apartments were unsafe for years. Why did people still live there?

Yahoo

04-04-2025

An eight-unit, L-shaped apartment building in Lakewood has been the source of concern for the city's rental-housing program for years. Although building owners of Melody Apartments haven't made necessary repairs and city staff declared the units illegal to occupy, a handful of residents still lived there, a News Tribune investigation found.
After a fire in 2020 damaged half of the units at 4914 115th St. Ct., property owners made many repairs without obtaining necessary permits, according to the city. That's caused headaches not only for the city but for the low-income tenants living there with leaky windows, electrical issues, plumbing issues and rotted railings.
As of Feb. 27, there were so many noncompliance issues at Melody Apartments the city deemed the building 'unlawful to rent' and 'illegal to occupy,' according to public records obtained by The News Tribune.
The property has been under an abatement order since Nov. 22, 2022, which meant tenants could not occupy the building. The order also called for certain parts of the property to be repaired or demolished by Jan. 30, 2023.
Despite those orders, as of last month at least five units were occupied and had been for months.
Meosha Turner is a program manager for House of Matthew, a permanent supportive-housing nonprofit that helps families transition out of homelessness and find more stability in their lives. Turner told The News Tribune on March 11 building owner Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC leased eight units to House of Matthew in August 2024. Turner said at the time House of Matthew did not know the building had been under an abatement order and there were so many issues. Now low-income families who hoped to find stability at Melody Apartments are being forced to move again, she said.
Turner lived in one of the units on site until last month. She said city officials have known about issues at the complex for years but have not held property owners accountable for housing violations. Turner also alleges staff with the Rental Housing Safety Program entered residents' units numerous times without their permission, including her own unit when she was asleep.
On Wednesday, the city denied allegations that inspectors entered units without permission and said the city posted 48-hour notices in advance of the inspections, as required by law. Spokesperson Brynn Grimley said House of Matthew staff denied entry to the city three times in February and March.
Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC told The News Tribune via email Thursday that House of Matthew had indicated it would surrender possession of all eight units by April 11. A representative with the company said tenants were not offered relocation assistance.
Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer records show the property was sold on Sept. 10, 2021 by Lakewood Community Group LLC to Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC for $1,577,662. The city said the sale occurred after Lakewood Community Group LLC repaired the fire and water damage 'without obtaining any permits or inspections.'
Extensive unpermitted and uninspected work continued for years on the property despite the city posting a stop-work order on April 7, 2022, according to public records. The property was deemed 'Noncompliant' by the city for the unpermitted work in September 2022, according to city records.
'It is the city's understanding that the property remained vacant from the September 2022 [Rental Housing Safety Program] posting, through the abatement process, until sometime in December 2024,' Grimley said on March 21. 'We are unsure of [the] exact date as this property remains a Noncompliant Rental Property through the RHSP and the abatement order remains in place, making this property uninhabitable. While we have no documentation due to the property owner being non-compliant and unwilling to share information, we believe the property owner/manager Sage leased the property to House of Matthew around this time, which is when House of Matthew may have begun bringing in tenants illegally.'
Representatives with House of Matthew did not respond to that allegation. Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC said via email Thursday that House of Matthew accepted the condition of the property before subletting to tenants and did not obtain a license to legally rent the units to tenants.
In an email to property owners and House of Matthew March 26 sent to The News Tribune by the city, city housing division manager Jeff Gumm said the House of Matthew still needs to obtain a City of Lakewood Rental Housing Safety Program business license.
In an emailed statement to The News Tribune on March 26, Sage Investment Group said it was committed to ensuring the safety and legal compliance of all its properties. The company said representatives from the House of Matthew denied entry to a city inspector at least twice 'and when leaseholders obstruct them, our team cannot reasonably ensure the safety and compliance of our properties, which ultimately puts tenants at risk.'
'For the last several months, we've worked closely with the City of Lakewood and the nonprofit the House of Matthew to schedule a necessary inspection of The Melody … which is currently fully leased to the House of Matthew,' Sage Investment Group said. 'Yesterday, on March 25, 2025, the City of Lakewood was able to successfully inspect this property. We are eagerly awaiting a full list of repairs required and look forward to completing them in a timely manner. We are cooperating fully with the City of Lakewood and want to thank them for their support and partnership as we work to ensure this property is safe and in compliance. We also appreciate the cooperation of the House of Matthew and are committed to working with them moving forward to do what is best for the tenants of The Melody.'
When asked why Lakewood 17 LLC was renting units to tenants and tenants were living at Melody Apartments despite the city knowing the units were noncompliant, Grimley said: 'We rely on private property owners to act as responsible owners and follow the law. When the complaint was issued, the tenants living in the two occupied units in the building were relocated, per state law. The question of why tenants were/are allowed to live in a building in violation of the city's order should be directed to the property owner/manager. They have a responsibility to follow the law.'
In an email Thursday, a Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC representative said in response, 'It is the responsibility of the tenant to maintain the property and to notify the owner/landlord/property manager of any major issues requiring repairs or replacement. House of Matthew had possession of the property, consistently declined to allow the owner and the City to enter the property to conduct inspections, and has now declined to allow the owner access to complete the necessary repairs.'
Turner told The News Tribune on a tour of the property March 24 that tenants had submitted maintenance requests that would often go unanswered or ignored by the property owner.
The property was most recently inspected by the city on March 25. According to the inspection report, every unit failed inspection, as did the shared laundry room and other areas.
City staff noted four units did not have functioning heaters, and at least one unit did not have functioning hot water, issues that were deemed to need 'immediate repair.' Three units had sinks that did not drain properly, one unit had an exposed wire in the bathroom, one had no carbon dioxide/smoke detector, another had a missing lock on its window and the laundry room's washing machine was found not to function properly, leaking water into the wall, floor and neighboring apartment. Those items were considered 'life-safety' repairs that needed to be completed in 10 days.
'There are still many items to address, but none rise to the level of unsafe conditions that would require closure of the building. That said, the units need to comply with our rental code or the property cannot receive a certificate of compliance. Without a certificate of compliance, a rental cannot continue to operate. The city is hopeful the remaining issues will be resolved,' Grimley said via email March 27. 'The owner started working on items yesterday and has expressed eagerness to complete the work. With this property specifically, we have had to balance enforcing our laws with understanding that this property provides necessary affordable housing to people who have minimal resources to find housing somewhere else. Our priority is to make sure tenants of this property have safe units that do not pose life safety concerns.'
In an email Thursday when asked why repairs were not completed earlier, a Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC representative said, 'The owner was not aware of the condition of the property prior to the recent inspection on March 25.'
As previously reported by The News Tribune, Kirkland-based Sage Investment Group LLC recently purchased a number of other buildings in Tacoma, Fife, Olympia and Centralia. The company bought several hotels on South Hosmer Street last year to convert into apartments in addition to other hotels in Fife and more in Lewis County.
Public records show the city was aware Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC continued to do extensive unpermitted and uninspected work at Melody Apartments despite the city posting a stop-work order in April 2022. The illegal work included: replacement of fire-damaged materials, roof replacement, siding replacement, window and door replacement, deck replacement and structural modification, replacement of stairs, replacement of railings and guards, drywall replacement, plumbing, mechanical and electrical modification and extensive interior modification to multiple units, according to the abatement order issued by the city in November 2022.
In September 2022 the city posted a notice for Rental Housing Safety Program noncompliance at the property, barring the building from being legally occupied or rented and requiring Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC to pay tenants relocation assistance under state law. According to public records The News Tribune received, the property owners paid at least $11,000 in relocation assistance to those tenants in October 2022.
Grimley said Melody Apartments passed all building and permit inspections in July 2024, but the building failed a final inspection in September 2024. Grimley said those items needed to be addressed before the abatement order and RHSP noncompliance posting could be lifted.
Turner said the past couple of months since House of Matthew discovered the abatement order and noncompliance posting has thrown the lives of Melody Apartments' tenants in disarray.
'Where's the oversight and where's the accountability?' Turner said. 'People's lives are hanging in jeopardy.'
All of the tenants who lived there are low-income and some have disabilities, speak limited English, were previously unhoused and faced discrimination, Turner said. House of Matthew currently has a 200-person waiting list for affordable housing, she said. Without stronger protections for tenants and stronger penalties for landlords, 'It's going to contribute to more homelessness, it's going to contribute to more landlord-tenant issues,' Turner said.
In an email to The News Tribune on Thursday, Lakewood 17 LLC/Sage Investment Group LLC blamed the situation on House of Matthew's refusal to cooperate with owners and the city to conduct inspections and complete repairs.
Turner said House of Matthew has a relatively low rate of people returning back to homelessness after finding housing and stability in their program. Some tenants expected to live at Melody Apartments for a while, but now they have to figure out somewhere else to live, she said.
'Having to deal with this takes away our ability to actively help and engage with other people, with our case management,' Turner said. 'And so not only are they impacting the people here, it's impacting the people who aren't even here.'