Reforming the Eviction Process: A Professional Organizer's Story About Advocating for Proactive Support for Affordable Housing Tenants

As a professional organizer, I’ve witnessed firsthand the profound impact that excessive clutter can have on people's lives. When I started this journey, I was motivated by a desire to help others create more serene and functional living spaces. What I didn’t expect was to find myself at the intersection of home organizing and housing security, where I learned just how vital my skills could be in advocating for affordable housing tenants and helping individuals avoid eviction due to clutter.

I’ve worked with so many clients whose living situations had become unmanageable through the years, but most recently have been working with a few social service agencies in the Greater Boulder/Denver area to help some tenants at risk of eviction and I am going to give myself a little pat on the back at how me and my team navigated these projects and ultimately prevented the evictions. With that said, the work and subsequent outcome will never be sustainable if housing authorities don't step up sooner rather than later and proactively assist tenants with their journey toward organizing success.

As I have said repeatedly in blogs, presentations, and social media posts, every client has their own story and reasons for their clutter. Some have physical limitations, while others are struggling with mental health or financial issues. And then there are those dealing with "all of the above," and no matter how many times I scream this from the literal mountaintops (yes, I do a lot of cathartic releasing when I get to the summit on most of the hikes I do because, well, why not?), simply put, I am not a therapist, physician, or social worker.

As I have spent the vast majority of my life fighting the good fights, my ability to affect change in the systems that are so broken is rather limited. However, my ability to make a true difference working with one person at a time? That's a daily occurrence in my profession...or at least that is what I am constantly told, and I will proudly own that.

Case and point, one of the recent affordable housing clients we worked with had an overabundance of food, a lot of which was expired in his tiny kitchen. The top photo is the "before" shot and the bottom is after myself and a team member spent 5 hours there.

One person I showed these photos to said she couldn't see that big of a difference but trust me, every surface, cabinet, and drawer was emptied and sorted through, and whatever wasn't expired or was still in active use was put back. And despite how much we got rid of, every shelf is still filled, but at least in a much more organized manner so that inventory could be properly rotated moving forward and things accessed more easily because he can now actually see everything without having to take too much out or cram it back in.

When I asked him why he needed so much food for only one person, he stated two reasons...

1. He cooks a lot of meals for other residents who can't cook for themselves due to their physical issues, or they simply don't know how to cook.

2. More importantly, he has severe food insecurity after being homeless for so many years and since he has limited access to local food pantries, he relies on either the affordable housing community to arrange for transportation which can be a very inconsistent service or utilizes the bus system which can take several hours to get to/from those food pantry locations.

The Housing Authority's Role

While I am proud of the positive changes I’ve made in clients' lives, the systemic issues need to be addressed at the level of housing authorities. Many agencies take a reactive rather than a proactive approach to tenant wellbeing. So instead of waiting for a complaint or a red flag to appear, housing authorities should establish programs that focus on home organization from the start.

Imagine how different things could be if housing authorities provided resources to help tenants create and maintain organized spaces. This could include offering workshops on decluttering, providing financial assistance for storage solutions, or connecting residents with professional organizers like me.

Some agencies have made strides toward this, but most remain limited in their approach. With the rising cost of affordable housing, preventing eviction isn't just about addressing rent payments; it's also about ensuring safe and healthy living conditions for tenants.

The Importance of Support Systems in Advocating for Affordable Housing Tenants

With the right support from housing authorities, many tenants could avoid situations where organizing becomes a matter of concern for their living arrangements. Creating a supportive network for tenants could include regular outreach from housing authorities to check-in on residents, offering valuable resources, and establishing community partnerships that facilitate home organizing programs.

I greatly appreciate the hard work being done by some of the non-profits that have reached out to me, and I am aware that they have limited resources, but they seem to be in a constant state of crisis mode which, dare I say, is so unproductive and inefficient. Far be it for me to tell them how to operate, but there really would be so much less chaos if they could nip these cluttered situations in the bud before they become insurmountable. Imagine what the system could look like if there were more advocates for affordable housing tenants helping them build skills that would help them manage their home and belongings!

Speaking of insurmountable, this literal mountain of clothes seemed like an insurmountable task to overcome for a tenant facing eviction. The clothes were dirty and needed to be washed, whether keeping or donating, and given the tenant's current physical health, there was no way it would happen before the inspection 6 days later. It was one of the violations cited by the inspectors and communicated to me by the tenant's court-appointed attorney...

Given the fact that there were other areas with massive piles of clothes...

...we had no choice but to bag everything up and put it in a storage area that had become another "dumping ground"...

Getting this message, though, right after the inspection from the attorney melted my heart...

"The two inspectors were clearly impressed with the massive changes. The client had done some additional straightening and cleaning, and the place looked great! Thank you Beth for all of that hard work and thanks to your staff, Elle and Marianne, too."

Meanwhile, in the midst of doing this job with a very strict deadline, I was scheduled for jury duty and couldn't get out of it ahead of time. I had to appear by 8:15 am on the date, wait to be escorted to the courtroom a little after 9, and receive instructions from the judge about the jury selection process. And then I had to cross my fingers and hope that my name wasn't randomly called from the pool of over 40 people because as much as I understand it is my civic duty to serve on a jury, I am also a business owner who doesn't have anyone paying me for the day and that in and of itself should be considered a hardship excuse. It was the first 6 times in the last 8 years, but not this time.

And then my name was called, so I mentally prepared myself to be there the rest of the day. But when the judge indicated the trial could extend into the next day and asked if that would be a hardship for anyone, I raised my hand and explained that I was supposed to be helping prevent an eviction. He replied, "That's not considered a hardship."

I'm sorry...it may not be my hardship, but it would be the tenant's, and that just seemed so unfair. So, despite stating my case/excuse, I was told I needed to wait it out and see if either the defense or prosecution would dismiss me when they would ultimately choose 6 of the 12 jurors picked for questioning to stay for the actual trial.

Luckily, I was dismissed and I am relatively certain it had as much to do with how upset I must have looked as it had to do with the fact that when we were all asked if we were aware of the homeless situation in Boulder I raised my hand and said, "How can I not be aware of it when I am currently trying to help someone avoid eviction and not end up on the streets?".

Yeah, I think my father and grandfather, the legal experts I was raised around who fought a lot of good fights through their legal careers, would have agreed that I defended my client well...and he wasn't even on trial.

I realize that a large sector of our society still believes that anyone facing eviction and homelessness deserves what they get, but I will never believe that to be true for any of my clients. They are good people whose life circumstances were what they were. In most cases, they suffered some sort of major trauma and spiraled downward and simply couldn't get back on their feet. We uncover so much evidence of their former lives...family, friends, an education, jobs, etc., and yet here they are, living in conditions that are so heartbreaking.

When I arrived at the client's the next day, he once again was not feeling well enough to even sit up in bed so I could ask him what to keep vs toss or donate. Instead, he grabbed a dirty blanket out of the laundry and fell asleep on the very dirty bathroom floor while I tackled his bedroom.

But as I was leaving a few hours later, he came out and, with tears in his eyes, apologized for not being engaged during the entire process. He knew the assignment, but asking him to actually do it on his own?

Sorry, but I won't ever accept that we should have that expectation anymore than someone should expect me to do my own taxes.

With funding cuts to so many programs already this year and more apparently to follow, I don't know what will happen to those that would truly benefit from our services but obviously can't afford them so I will continue to do my best to support them any way I can and if you live in the Denver/Boulder area and would like to volunteer to help on occasion please click HERE to fill out our volunteer form.

Be well and please, always be kind,

Beth