Renters Accumulate Equity for Fixing Homes for Rent

Some renters of the 96-unit Alhambra apartments in Madison, Wisconsin are paying reduced rents because they are helping repair and restore the once-proud apartment complex.

These renters have entered into agreements with the owner, Evan Harrison, to make the needed repairs on their own units and then continue working on other homes for rent in the complex in exchange for a reduction of $15 from the rent for every hour they work on the properties.

One of the renters, Travis Loy, has been allowed to stay in one of the units for free because he is a skilled but unemployed carpenter. He also has his own repair and construction tools and will build cabinets for the apartment complex in the shop of his friend.

Loy and another renter, Nikolai Dobrin, will first work on a unit that has been destroyed by the previous tenants. Walls are filled with holes, kitchen cabinets and heaters are broken, carpets are covered with oily stains and drywalls are water-damaged.

Dobrin will rent a three-bedroom unit for only $700, down from the $989 regular rent, in exchange for cleaning and repairing his own unit.

Loy meanwhile was able to get a rent-free pledge from Harrison in exchange for his services. He has started working on his unit by replacing the damaged drywall and installing laminate flooring.

When the Alhambra apartments were built in 1969, they were considered among the proudest buildings in the area because they were surrounded by the high-end Arbor Hills community and the arboretum. They also had a swimming pool and a large playground.

The apartment buildings were designed by one of the first urban land economics graduates of the University of Wisconsin, who incorporated in the buildings many of the design concepts by real property professor James Graaskamp.

Graaskamp believed that apartment structures should be designed so that tenants are able to know their neighbors. He eliminated the long corridors commonly incorporated in apartment buildings.

Each of the Alhambra buildings comprises 24 units, with every 4 units combined in a four-unit structure that shares one entrance.

When mortgage rates dropped to record lows in 2003, most of the families renting Alhambra bought homes and moved out, bringing to 27 the number units vacant that year. To keep the cash flow moving, Harrison was forced to accept tenants who used Section 8 vouchers and who later destroyed the units and who started two fires on the properties. These are some of the damages that the skilled renters will fix in exchange for reduced rents.