New Landlord Of Recently-Purchased, Aging 24-Unit Building Kicks Off Refurbishing Plans By Kicking Out All The Tenants; Mass Eviction (Mostly Low-Income Or Mentally Ill Renters) Said To Be Fallout From Overheated Housing Market

In Portland, Maine, the Portland Press Herald reports:

• The tenants of a 24-unit Parkside apartment complex, most of whom are low-income or mentally disabled, are being evicted by the New Jersey-based company that owns the buildings in what city officials and housing advocates say is more fallout from Portland’s overheated housing market.
  
  The tenants were told Dec. 23 that they had to leave by March 1 so the new owner can renovate the aging buildings. Although some occupants have found new housing in recent weeks, city officials met with social service providers Monday to figure out a plan to help 14 residents who have nowhere else to go a week before the deadline on the eviction notices. Most of the residents are receiving housing assistance.
  
  “These are low-income and vulnerable tenants who are in a very high-priced market,” said Katie McGovern, an attorney at Pine Tree Legal, which provides free legal aid to low-income people.
  
  City officials said that most of the affected tenants are low-income or are struggling with mental illness, or both.
  
  Evictions have been happening throughout the city’s rental neighborhoods as a shortage of housing has pushed up rents and created a market for investors to buy and refurbish old or neglected apartment buildings. But the mass eviction of so many people at one time is unusual.
  
  McGovern said she handled over 1,200 disputed eviction cases in Portland in 2015. “It’s fair to say we’re seeing more of it,” she said.
  
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  Advanced Energy Group, a company based in Old Tappan, New Jersey, purchased 61-69 Grant St. from a local property owner last spring. The corporation is doing business in Maine under the name AEG Holdings.
  
  It’s not yet clear what the new owner plans to do with the Parkside property and whether the units will be renovated as apartments or converted into condos.

For the story, see Demand for housing in Portland leads to mass eviction in Parkside (A company that plans to renovate a Grant Street apartment complex is forcing out dozens 
of tenants, many low-income or mentally disabled, into ‘a very high-priced market.’)

For story update, see Portland landlord agrees to give tenants more time on evictions (John Le says that, for now, he won't ask a court to force out the dozen or so people still at 61-69 Grant St., as Portland officials work to find them new homes.)