Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell met with former tenants of Springfield Gardens.
Reminder Publishing photo by Sarah Heinonen
SPRINGFIELD — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell visited Springfield recently to participate in a roundtable listening session with community organizers and former tenants of Springfield Gardens.
The rental properties, owned by Schweb Partners LLC and its principals Jacques Schmidt and Abraham Weber, who Katie Talbot of Springfield No One Leaves described as a “corporate slum lord,” became the focus of an investigation by the attorney general’s office and a $10 million lawsuit.
Springfield Gardens, which has since been sold, consisted of 62 majority low-income apartment buildings and housed about 1,300 residents. Schweb Partners purchased the buildings between 2020 and 2024. By 2022, tenants working with community organizations Springfield No One Leaves and Neighbor 2 Neighbor, contacted the attorney general’s office to complain of unlivable conditions, including rodents and insect infestations, leaks, collapsing ceilings, rampant mold, mushrooms growing inside apartments, unsecured exterior doors and faulty heat and hot water.
The $10 million settlement includes Schweb’s forgiveness of $7.5 million in withheld rent from tenants and $2.5 million paid to the commonwealth. Campbell said her office is exploring a mechanism to provide reparations to tenants with the money paid to the state. Perhaps more impactful for some of the tenants is the requirement that Schweb Partners never again own or manage property in Massachusetts.
At the Nov. 18 roundtable at the attorney general’s Western Massachusetts office, Assistant Attorney General Bahls said that the issues were first brought to the attention of the attorney general’s office when a tenant approached him and said that they wanted their children to play outside, but it was too dangerous, and that children had to step over people sleeping in the hallways on their way to school.
Campbell said her office could not have achieved the legal victory against Schweb Partners without the local organizations and the residents who were willing to come forward and share their experiences. Campbell noted that she grew up in public housing and said that the stories people shared had her holding back tears.
Michael Wright is one of the tenants who shared his story with the attorney general’s office. He fought for more than 18 months to have the issues in his apartment repaired. When repairs were made, he said, they were shoddy and done without permits. He urged the city to inspect the apartments for safety.
“Housing is a human right,” Wright said. He later added, “There’s still work to be done in Springfield. It’s people coming together to build power against these corporations taking advantage of people.”
Former Springfield Gardens resident Anna Smith said the conditions in her apartment made her family “sick, stressed and scared.” She spoke of mold growing up the walls of the bathroom, her children wearing winter coats indoors and boiling pots of water on the stove to heat the apartment and give her children a bath. Her family developed chronic headaches and coughs, before realizing their living conditions were the cause.
“People treat you like you’re invisible until you show up as a community,” Smith said.
Precious Jones is another resident of Springfield Gardens who fought to have her living conditions fixed. The apartment she shares with her children had no heat or hot water; her 2-year-old son became ill, and she said the maintenance workers at the building broke in and robbed her. Jones said that she repeatedly called the city’s code enforcement without success.
Jones is still living in her apartment building, now owned by Papyrus Equities LLC of Brookline. She said the conditions had not changed, and she was without heat the night before the roundtable. When asked if she had contacted the new landlords, Jones said she does not know how to contact them. When the building was sold, she simply received a letter instructing her to send the rent to a new address. She planned to speak with the attorney general’s office about the current owners.
Talbot said organizers and residents knocked on nearly every Springfield Gardens door to get more and more people to come forward with their stories. “It’s powerful to have tenants talking to tenants” in the same situation. She said Schweb Partners owns rental properties in states all along the east coast. The issues in Springfield were “just egregious” enough to get noticed.
Talbot pointed out that some people cannot afford to move to a new place when they have a bad landlord. She said, “It doesn’t matter what you pay for rent. We all deserve dignified housing.”
Members of Campbell’s office explained that many people do not know their rights as tenants. The law prohibits many practices landlord commonly use, such as charging an application fee, not disclosing all fees in rental advertisements and not clearing snow or ice from common areas. Landlords are also not allowed to charge more or discriminate against tenants with children.
The attorney general’s office has recently updated guidelines for tenants and landlords that can be found at mass.gov/orgs/office-of-the-attorney-general. Other resources for individuals dealing with housing issues can be found at uptocode.org and eviction help is available at gbls.org/MADE.
Campbell said, “We need folks on the ground telling people these resources exist, helping to educate folks.” She said there are specialists in her office that focus on housing issues. “We want to be helpful, and we want to be responsive,” she said.
Talbot said people are sometimes frightened to call code enforcement because they fear the living conditions will lead to an investigation by the Department of Children and Families.
Joseph Bonilla of Neighbor 2 Neighbor commented that people without proper immigration documentation are hesitant to report unlawful landlord behavior. He said, “The apprehension is if I share information about my status, that I’m going to be persecuted.”
“Not by this office,” Campbell assured him. “Absolutely not. We treat everyone with the human dignity they deserve.” She said housing laws apply to everyone, no matter their immigration status. Further, she said her office may be able to help people obtain legal status on a case-by-case basis.
Campbell later stated, “There still are issues that we have to address. No family right now should be going without heat. No child should be unsafe in their home,” she said. “Housing is a human right. These tenants understood that. They organized. We are partners in the work with them, and we will continue to hold any landlord accountable that is making housing unsafe for tenants here in Massachusetts.”
