Out-Of-State Landlord's Remodeling Plans For 56-Unit Building Equates To Mass Eviction For Over 150 Jackson Hole Tenants; Scarcity Of Affordable Rentals Spells Trouble For Those Getting The Boot

In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reports:

• Tenants in the 56-unit Virginian Village Apartments are being kicked out, and some of them have just a month to find a new place to live. The owners of the property sent letters out this week telling people they have to move so the complex can be remodeled.
  
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  An attorney representing the landlord, Bedford Investments of Napa, California, said his clients are attempting to sell the complex, and that won’t happen unless it’s fixed up. The apartments are 26 years old.
  
  “It’s just become readily apparent to my clients that in order to get the building sold they’re going to have to fix it up,” attorney James Lubing said.
  
  Tenants said that most people were on month-to-month leases and that rent was $920 for a one-bedroom. They estimated more than 150 people live in the complex. The landlords offered some assistance by waiving the last two weeks of rent for people who must vacate.
  
  The situation at the Virginian Village Apartments is just the latest in a series of blows endured by renters in Jackson Hole in the past year.
  
  The owners of Blair Place Apartments, Jackson’s largest complex, announced a rent increase last summer in excess of 40 percent.
  
  The Bank of Jackson Hole kicked long-term tenants out of the Pioneer Motel in November.
  
  The building was dilapidated. Residents reported regular power outages and, at times, no running water, but renters still said it was the best they could do for housing in Jackson Hole.
  
  The situation doesn’t look to be improving in the near future, especially with the busy summer tourist season around the corner.
  
  [Tenant Yese] Rodriguez said she and her mother have already begun their housing search, but they aren’t too optimistic. “Today we went to pretty much every apartment building,” she said. “Everywhere there’s a waiting list.”
  
  [Ashleigh] Yost has lived in her unit for more than a year. She was at a loss for how she’ll find a new place in the middle of the summer, when the rental market is tightest. “I have no idea, literally no idea,” she said.

Source: Virginian tenants face eviction.