United Athens County Tenants

04/03/2026

"One experience that continues to shock [RIPS Subcommittee founder Solveig] Spjeldnes to this day is when one of her sons discovered part of his ceiling and roof had collapsed after he entered his room on the top floor for the first time...

Unfortunately, experiences such as these are not unheard of among renters in Athens. These issues are compounded by the fact the majority of renters in Athens are Ohio University students, Damon Krane, co-founder of United Athens County Tenants (UACT), said.

“Most Athens renters are new student renters with very little experience as tenants,” Krane explained. “They are unlikely to know about the landlord's legal obligations for maintaining the physical premises properly.”

Perhaps one of the most dramatic incidents involving rental housing in recent years was when the ceiling at a rental property on 79½ Shafer St. collapsed in 2022.

Nine days earlier, the property had been inspected by code enforcement and given a passing grade. Incidents such as these illustrate the need for improving the thoroughness of code enforcement's rental housing inspection program, Krane said.

“In my experience, for most inspections that I was there for over 18 total years of renting in Athens, the inspectors were in and out the door in 90 seconds,” Krane explained. “All they did was press the test buttons on smoke detectors.”

In an effort to improve rental housing conditions, the Athens City Affordable Housing Commission is collecting information from thousands of renters about their experiences with rental housing.

09/10/2025

Another tenant rights training coming up! This time in Nelsonville.

➡ More details at https://events.myacpl.org/index.php/event/renters-rights-35762

About our presenter: Damon Krane is Housing Information Coordinator for the Coalition On Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, a founding member of United Athens County Tenants, and a 25-year veteran community organizer who got his start in Nelsonville. COHHIO is a statewide nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness and securing safe, fair, quality, affordable housing for all. UACT is Southeast Ohio’s only tenant-led, tenant advocacy group. Additional members of UACT will be present to help answer questions.

09/01/2025

Follow-up workshop this Wednesday @ 7:00pm. Last week we covered: habitability standards, repair requests, unlawful entry, peaceful enjoyment, escrow, court orders, dealing with Athens City Code Enforcement, and suing landlords to recover damages. This week we’ll cover: landlord s*xual misconduct, landlord retaliation, security deposits, predatory leasing arrangements, and lease termination. These workshops are geared toward OU student tenants but relevant to non-student tenants, too.

08/25/2025

This Wednesday @ 7:00pm at Ohio University. A Know-Your-Rights training specially tailored for students renting off-campus, but relevant to all renters, too. Topics include: Legal safety & quality standards, getting landlords to make repairs, dealing with regulatory agencies and the courts, recovering a wrongfully withheld security deposit, the rent escrow process, predatory lease terms, privacy & unlawful entry, s*xual harassment, housing discrimination, eviction, protections from retaliation, and tenant organizing & advocacy.

04/25/2025

4 / 6 candidates running for Athens City Council in contested May 6 primary races responded to UACT's questionnaire on local housing issues. Topics covered include rental housing safety, affordable housing, tenant rights, and homelessness. You can read the full, unedited candidate responses at https://www.athenstenants.com/communityoutreach

And here is a summary with some highlights: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cna-Ekslbd3bos7dG5QwjkKtsYrJs1hMKEx2iGVCo6A/edit?usp=sharing

The Athens Messenger also covered UACT's questionnaire here: https://www.newsbreak.com/athens-messenger-1590975/3975547855409-athens-city-council-candidates-address-tenant-issues

Who responded and who didn't?

The respondents are First Ward (West Side) candidate Megan Almeida and At-Large candidates Ari Faber (who responded a couple hours after we had submitted our press release to the Independent), Paul Isherwood, and Jessica Thomas.

The candidates who did not respond, despite multiple requests, are First Ward candidate Anthony Jacobs and At-Large candidate Beth Clodfelter. We continue to welcome their responses. Should we receive them before May 6, we will post them to the UACT website at the link above.

UACT will always seek to work with whomever is elected to local government in order to pass better housing policy. However, we also strive to help tenants learn candidates' positions before elections, so that tenants can be empowered to make informed decisions as voters.

We sincerely thank Almeida, Faber, Isherwood and Thomas for their openness, responsiveness and thoughtful engagement with these vital community issues.

Readers seeking to learn Jacobs’ and Clodfelter’s positions on some of these issues should review videos and news coverage of the March 26 At-Large and March 31 First Ward candidate forums. These forums were hosted by the League of Women Voters of Athens County and covered by the Athens Messenger and Athens County Independent. All six candidates participated in those forums.

May 26 At-Large forum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGIeUSXyXs4
May 31 First Ward forum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u_vENbitDg

The League of Women Voters of Athens County also conducted its own questionnaire, now available at www.Vote411.org At the time of this writing, all of the candidates except for Clodfelter have responded to that questionnaire.

As part of its nonpartisan voter education and empowerment efforts, the local tenant advocacy group United Athens County Tenants has conducted our second candidate questionnaire to date on local housing issues – this time for the 2025 contested Democratic primary races for the first ward and at-large seats on Athens City Council. ⁠

Read the op-ed here: https://athensindependent.com/oped-uact-candidates/

09/03/2024

Check out local legal aid attorney Peggy Lee's monthly "Tips for Tenants" column at https://athensindependent.com/tips-for-tenants/

A landlord can't threaten to kick you out, change your locks, shut off your utilities, or set your property out to try to get you to move.

08/22/2024

Damon Krane, a member of the tenant advocacy group United Athens County Tenants, told the Independent in an email, "These lawsuits underscore the need for elected officials in our county to pass and enforce stronger local tenant protections."

[Legal Aid of Central and Southeast Ohio Managing Attorney Lucy] Schwallie shared a similar sentiment: “A public conversation about predatory landlords has long been overdue.”

Krane referred to UACT’s advocacy in Athens and Chauncey to establish tenant protections for those paying rent with public assistance vouchers and to prevent eviction in situations when tenants can pay past-due rent.

Krane said eviction protections, passed by both Athens and Chauncey and known as ‘pay to stay,’ “make it harder for landlords to use the threat of eviction to extort s*x from tenants.” Meanwhile, protections in Athens and Chauncey for voucher recipients make low income women “less vulnerable … to s*xual predator landlords,” Krane said.

Krane called on other Athens County municipalities to establish similar protections. He also said municipalities could establish “meaningful penalties for unlawful entry” as an additional protection, and he called on the city of Athens to step up its code enforcement.

“UACT is always ready to not only hold accountable local politicians who do wrong by tenants, but to work in concert with local politicians who want to do right,” Krane said in an email.

Advocates hope the lawsuit prompts a “public conversation about predatory landlords.”

08/19/2024

Reminder: It's not only Joe Lucas. We need stronger protections for Athens County Tenants.

Two decades ago local landlord Kevin Martin was criminally charged with s*xually assaulting a 17-year-old Venezuelan exchange student, but charges were dropped after the alleged survivor declined to return to the US to testify against him.

Now, in this federal lawsuit filed just last week and immediately settled, the US Justice Department "alleges that, from at least 2010 to at least 2020, Martin requested s*x acts from female tenants and applicants; subjected female tenants and applicants to unwelcome s*xual touching; made unwelcome s*xual comments and advances to female tenants and applicants; demanded that female tenants engage in s*x acts with him in order not to lose housing and offered to reduce rent or excuse late or unpaid rent in exchange for s*x acts. The lawsuit also alleges that Martin initiated evictions or threatened to evict female tenants who objected to or refused his s*xual advances."

According to the settlement, "Martin has agreed to pay $165,000 to former female tenants and applicants harmed by his harassment and a $5,000 civil penalty to the United States." Also, "The consent decree permanently bars Martin from managing residential rental properties, requires him to retain a property manager for properties he continues to own, and mandates training and the adoption of policies and procedures to prevent future discrimination."

The Justice Department announced Thursday that Kevin Martin, an owner and manager of residential rental properties in Athens County, has agreed to pay $170,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging that

06/27/2024

Jacob Bush, Joie Carr and Jeremy Carr have been added as codefendants in the DOJ's case against Joe Lucas, who is accused of s*xual harassment towards tenants.

As we stated in our press release, "UACT believes fortunes amassed through heinous s*xual misconduct should not be passed on to anyone but the survivors of that abuse. If the defendants are found liable for these alleged acts, we urge the US Department of Justice not only to put the Lucas family out of business as landlords, but to seize and sell all their rental properties and deliver the proceeds of those sales to survivors."

The US Justice Department added three of Joseph Earl Lucas‘ relatives as defendants in a lawsuit accusing the Amesville resident of s*xual discrimination toward female tenants.

05/19/2024

The Village of Chauncey is doing wonderful things!

On May 8, the village instituted new protections for LGBTQ+ renters as well as renters who pay for housing with assistance from local agencies such as HUD.

UACT was proud to partner with Village Council members, and we will continue to advocate for progressive housing laws in Athens County!

The ordinance’s passage followed months of debate.

05/03/2024

We are so grateful to Evelyn Nagy and all of Chauncey City Council for the work they're doing to support and protect tenants!

from the article:

"Nagy said she talked with Chauncey tenants worried about eviction and residents having trouble finding housing, and “their stories propelled me to ask for help educating myself and learning how to bring these issues to council.” Nagy worked with the tenant advocacy group United Athens County Tenants to develop the pay to stay ordinance.

During the meeting, UACT member Katherine King said, “Housing stability has a ripple effect in communities, and the longer that people can remain in their housing, the safer their neighborhoods are and the better their schools perform.”"

Also, council again debated protections for LGBTQ+ residents, as well as a resolution for a ceasefire in Palestine.