Arlie Forte is done living without heat in her apartment off Salem Avenue.
"Every time he comes in he says, 'The heat is 68 degrees.' Do you feel 68 degrees in here? No," she said recently, and then smiled. "It's cold, cold."
Since the beginning of this year, the Dayton Tenant Union has fought to join the city’s Housing Steering Committee that makes housing policy recommendations to city commissioners.
Forte is a member of the tenant union, and she wants the city to do more for renters who are in disputes with their landlord. She spoke with WYSO about her struggles with getting heat in her apartment as an example of what some renters face.
While it's now warming up outside, Forte said sometimes her 82-year-old bones need extra warmth.
Forte lives in a 10-unit building on Elsmere Avenue in Dayton. According to Forte, since December 2023, she hasn't had consistent heat. And she’s not alone.
Elijah Willis lives across the hall from Forte. He said everything was fine until-mid December, when the boiler stopped. He recalled a repair crew getting it started for a few weeks.
"It's noisy when it gets heated, but it's very nice when it is heated," Willis said.
But in mid-January, Willis said the boiler quit for good, and the two radiators in his unit went stone cold. Willis pays $650 for rent, which includes heat.
The 20-year-old said his youth helped him endure the cold.
"That's the perks of being a little bit younger," he said. "A little bit thicker skin maybe."
Doug Higa Sr. owns the Elsmere building. He admitted the boiler there is unreliable.
"It's an older boiler system and it breaks down when it's used heavily," he said.
But he also said during the winter, the building temperature averages 70 degrees, and accused Forte of exaggerating.
"I know that older people tend to like warmer spaces," Higa Sr. said. "So let's say we put it in 80 degrees to make one tenant happy, and then the other eight or nine complain, and then we drop it to 70. And then one complains, where would you draw the line on an issue like that?"
Recently, Higa’s son, Doug Higa Jr., met WYSO in the building.
He used a thermal heat detector in the hallway, and it registered 59 degrees.
In Forte’s apartment, Higa Jr. measured the temperature in her bedroom at 61 degrees.
Forte sleeps in a reclining chair in her living room, where it's a little warmer.
"I want to sleep in my bed, but I can't," Forte said. "It's too cold in here. It's like walking into a deep freeze."
Layered in warm clothes and a blanket, a large electric space heater from her daughter sat near Forte’s recliner, pouring out warmth.
She confirmed last January, Higa Sr. gave residents electric space heaters. She received two of them.
But according to Forte, this made her monthly electric bill jump from around $40 to a little more than $100.
"I'm on a fixed income. I get $1,350 every month," she said.
After paying her life insurance, utility, water, groceries and $700 in rent — which includes heat — Forte has less than $500 to hold her through the month.
According to Ohio law, a tenant has a right to have a habitable premises.
"Not a premises that is ... unsafe or unsavory or one that has hazardous conditions that could potentially impact their health and safety," said Magistrate Brandon McClain, an acting judge in the Dayton Municipal Court.
McClain believes housing should be recognized as a basic human right.
"Many of the individuals who find themselves in this position, quite frankly, represent the lower tier of the middle class of our community," McClain said. "Those who are the most vulnerable, those who have the least."
As of April 17, 2024, McClain has presided over 35 landlord tenant cases.
The most common mistake renters make when in dispute with their landlord is to stop paying rent, McClain said. Instead, tenants should go to the clerk of courts, he said, and put their rent in escrow. This will initiate legal actions.
"The court could reduce the rent obligation until the issue is addressed. The court also could terminate the lease agreement," McClain said. "The court could decide to take no action and reset the matter, for a brief amount of time to give the landlord ample time to correct the action. The court could decide to enjoin or prohibit the landlord from re-renting the property again in the future, until that issue that affects habitability is corrected. Or the court could actually put an order for the property to be inspected by the housing authority."
For months, Forte said she’s texted Higa Sr. about not having heat and other problems. But she alleged Higa Sr. hasn’t made the repairs.
Thus, with the help of an attorney from ABLE, Forte put her March 2024 rent into escrow.
Recently, a different Dayton magistrate ordered Forte doesn’t have to pay her March and April 2024 rent to Higa Enterprises, and she’ll get back her $550 security deposit.
Forte has found another apartment and is moving in early May.
Higa Sr. said he plans to replace the old boiler in the Elsmere building and install individual heating units similar to what’s used in hotels.
"It's a heat pump and an air conditioning kind of thing," he said.
Higa Sr. estimates each unit will cost between $13,000 to $15,000. But he didn’t have a timetable of when they will be installed.
