Your Rating of Russell Sabadosa:

Jo Landers

Biography

I moved from Lawrence to Western Mass in 1988, when I was accepted as an Ada Comstock Scholar at Smith College, after attending Northern Essex Community College while working full-time.

At Smith I chaired the Association of Low Income Students, assisting with financial aid applications and helping off-campus students access resources like fuel assistance. I also served for six years on the board of the Hampshire Community Action Commission, which managed LIHEAP, Head Start, eviction diversion and other low-income programs.

I purchased my first investment property in 1999. It was the lowest-price building sold in Holyoke that year, so you can imagine what kind of shape it was in! I’ve rehabilitated two other buildings since then, helped manage a 46-unit apartment complex for three years, and currently own and manage six residential units across four properties. I’m active in the MassLL facebook group and frequently attend meetings and webinars. I also own and manage a 3-person bookkeeping firm that works with about 30 small businesses, landlords, and nonprofits.

Personal Statement:

As a former low-income renter myself, I am dismayed by the adversarial relationship the media and various organizations promote between landlords and tenants. As landlords we are frequently labeled villains but in reality the landlord-tenant relationship is a partnership; we depend on our tenants and our tenants depend on us.

I support MassLandlord’s landlord education and certification programs, but would like to add tenant education, which could be as simple as a resources page on the website or include articles written from the tenant’s viewpoint, such as how to apply for RAFT or how security deposits are handled. In my experience tenants who are aware of both their rights AND their responsibilities are more understanding of the challenges we face as landlords.

I also support the MassLandlords legislative agenda. The Statehouse has recognized the need for major changes in housing and zoning policies. We need to be active and vocal to ensure those changes improve housing availability in Massachusetts without putting landlords in the untenable positions we’ve experienced the past few years.