Ruth Shahan says she was a good tenant, paid her rent on time and seemed to be liked by everyone at her Renton apartment complex.
That's why she was surprised earlier this year when a man came to her door and handed her something she'd never seen before – an eviction notice.
"I couldn't believe it. I've never been evicted from a place in my life," said Shahan.
And that's saying something, because Ruth Shahan is 90 years old.
She was evicted from her apartment of six years by the Senior Housing Assistance Group – SHAG. SHAG's advertising has helped propel the nonprofit into the most recognized and largest provider of affordable, senior housing in Western Washington.
Now, some tenants say Shahan's case is an example of how SHAG has lost sight of its mission to help the elderly.
"The way people are being bullied – seniors. They seem to think that they can just run over senior citizens," said Cyril Hylton, who tried to assist Shahan before she was evicted.
Hylton is one of four tenant association presidents – in four separate SHAG buildings – who complained to the KING 5 Investigators about SHAG's treatment of residents.
"Poor building maintenance…" is a problem, said 72-year-old Bill Bayley, the association president at Courtland Place Apartments in Seattle's Rainer Valley neighborhood.
"Managers are providing us with no security measures at all," said 65-year-old Linda Malone. She says that her unit at the New Haven apartments in North Seattle was broken into last year.
Ida McCormick, 79, says she likes the building manager at Cedar Park Apartments in Seattle's Lake City neighborhood, but isn't sure that person will last in the job.
"Over the past seven years I think we've had at least eight managers. That tells you something right there," McCormick said.
Shahan's eviction notice said she was kicked out of Renton's Spencer Courts apartments because she "failed and refused to cooperate" with exterminators who were treating her apartment for bed bugs.
Shahan says she tried to cooperate, but before one spraying session her son was not able to arrive in time to help her prepare her apartment and move furniture out of the exterminator's way.
"I couldn't move furniture. I'm 90 years old," Shahan said.
"I've been a good citizen, a good person all my life," Shahan said of the eviction. "I suppose I would have wanted to cry. But I'm not a cry baby. I'm a mother, a grandmother -- a great, great grandmother."
SHAG operates 28 separate apartment complexes for seniors. All were built with taxpayer assistance – federal tax credits available to organizations that build affordable housing. The more than 5,000 seniors who live in SHAG buildings must qualify with moderate to low incomes.
SHAG's executive director denies that there's a pattern of mistreatment or bullying by his management team.
"We absolutely know that the heart and soul of the SHAG communities is not the buildings, it's what goes inside (them)," said Jay Woolford.
Woolford says tenant surveys have him convinced that most residents are satisfied with SHAG. He says Shahan's eviction is a "sad story," but declined to provide specifics citing privacy reasons. He said Shahan was offered assistance to prepare her apartment "probably two to three times" but she refused help, opting for help from family members instead.
"There isn't really much we could do. I mean the folks that live in our communities are considered to be independent," said Woolford.
Shahan and her son say they were cooperating with management and had even thrown out bug-infested furniture.
The Spencer Courts Apartments have a long history of bed bug infestation. Shahan says she didn't bring the nuisance insects into the building and noted that several other units, not just hers, were also sprayed.
SHAG requires tenants to sign an addendum to the lease agreement that informs them they can be evicted for failing to cooperate on bed bug eradication efforts. Shahan said she doesn't recall signing an addendum, and SHAG did not say whether Shahan had signed, citing privacy concerns.
The addendum also says tenants could be forced to pay the costs of extermination in their apartments and other units where bed bugs spread. One resident at a SHAG building received a pest treatment bill for more than $1,500.
Ultimately, the City of Seattle's Department of Planning and Development (DPD) determined that SHAG's bed bug addendums violated city and state law. The city says the law requires landlords to pay for pest treatments in multi-unit apartment buildings because it is difficult to identify the source of the infestation. Bed bugs can travel through walls and lie dormant for months.
"(The) addendum offered to tenants by SHAG is illegal, specifically because it places the onus on the tenants to remove all pests…which is the responsibility of the landlord under current law," DPD spokesman Bryan Stevens wrote in an email to KING 5.
"It's actually not illegal," Woolford said of the addendums. He said SHAG disagrees with Seattle's position. However, SHAG no longer asks tenants in its seven buildings in Seattle to sign them.
Complaints against SHAG have resulted in a dreaded "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau of Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington. The 17 complaints on file is not a high number, but SHAG's refusal to respond in some of those cases earned it a failing grade, the BBB said.
"It's a red flag. If you're gonna do business with someone, you want to be sure they're transparent, they're responding to all complaints," said BBB spokesperson David Quinlan.
SHAG has also run afoul of the nonprofit that is the state's largest tenant's rights organization. The Tenants Union of Washington State says it receives more complaints about SHAG than any other senior housing organization.
"The volume of complaints are much, much higher that other senior housing complexes," said Tenants Union counselor Kylin Parks, who specializes helping seniors with landlord disputes. "So the bullying tactics is particularly something I have seen over the last year and a half increase," she said of SHAG's management style.
"Bullying is a pretty strong word and I could pretty much categorically say that is not the case," said SHAG's Woolford. "I've got a great team that is exclusively focused on residents, resident relations (and) resident well-being," he said.
Woolford insists that SHAG gave Shahan many opportunities, but was left with no other option other than eviction.
"It is the last recourse. It is not something we take lightly," said Woolford.
When KING 5 was last in contact with Shahan, she was bouncing from one motel room to another with most of her possessions locked up in storage.
"I think to myself, what does a 90-year-old person do?" she said. "I'm a good person. I love the Lord and I deserve better. I do."
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Contact the Tenants Union at 206.723.0500. Or contact Kylin Parks at kylinp@tenantsunion.org.
This story first aired on June 11, 2015.
