Durham seniors moved in for community. Now they’ve organized a tenants union.
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- Seniors living at Willard Street and Ashton Place apartments in Durham have unionized.
- They are demanding safer living conditions, cleanliness and better communication.
- The landlord and management have agreed to meet with the unions for a Meet & Confer.
When Shelva Washington moved into Ashton Place two years ago, she thought she had found a sanctuary.
For many seniors like her, the apartment building on Jackson Street promised community and stability in the heart of downtown Durham, steps from the American Tobacco Campus.
The complex opened in 2024, offering 51 affordable units for seniors with incomes at or below 60% of the area median income. There is a laundry room, computer center, community room with a kitchen and a fully-equipped fitness room.
“When I first came, it was affordable, and it was beautiful,” Washington, 72, said. “It’s close to everything. I got to know my neighbors, and we are really like a community.”
But today, that beauty has been marred by what residents describe as a pattern of neglect, safety and sanitation failures, and a management style they find unprofessional.
“In my apartment, the paint around the doors is peeling. Some of the flooring is coming up. It was not constructed well,” Washington said. “We don’t even have a maintenance person to keep up or a cleaning service. We are proud of where we are, and we want to keep that and be in a clean environment.”
Frustrated by years of ignored complaints, the residents formed Ashton Seniors in Action, joining forces with Willard Street United, a group of seniors at Willard Street Apartments next door, to demand accountability.
In January, a majority of households in Ashton Place and Willard Street signed a petition to be recognized as a union under the North Carolina Tenants Union, a legally recognized 501(c)(3) organization of which some members pay dues. The group hopes a collective voice will finally force the landlord, DHIC, and the management company, Community Management Corp. (CMC), to listen.
The “butterfly” barrier and security gaps
Safety is the primary catalyst for the union. Sitting in Debra Davies’ living room, wearing T-shirts with the name Ashton Seniors in Action, the residents described a building where the technology meant to protect them has become a threat to their survival.
The “Butterfly” system, designed to let residents buzz in guests from their phones, is a frequent concern, especially when there is a health emergency. The smart-cloud intercom allows tenants to manage building entry, but it only works for the first door to Ashton Place. The system doesn’t allow entry for the second door, which leads to the apartment units.
Matt Scaparro, the vice president of asset management for CMC, defends the butterfly system and the safety of the building, saying it “works as intended” and that emergency responders have access to a “master key in a ‘Knox Box,’” a steel safe mounted on the building.
Residents tell a different story.
Before ending up in the hospital for days, Carman Jones, 67, called 911 when her blood pressure spiked to 200/100 and forced her to leave her apartment, get on the elevator, and walk to the lobby to let in the ambulance crew because it couldn’t get past the second door to get her.
“If I stayed upstairs, how would they get in here?” Jones said.
Her neighbor, Veleria Ramos, 72, experienced the same when her husband had a severe health emergency, and she had to leave him to go downstairs and let emergency crews inside the building.
“I want to live here; don’t get me wrong,” Ramos said. “This union is a group to empower us so that we can live here the way that we should. It’s too much; you’ve got to say something. You can’t be silent because silence is deadly in these types of situations.”
Because the apartment complex lacks a 24-hour security guard, residents said they also feel unsafe in their apartments.
Months after the apartment building opened, residents on the first floor reported break-ins, unhoused people sleeping or sitting on their street-view patios, and drug trafficking and violence outside their window. Davies, whose bedroom window was broken in twice, fought to get a fence around the first-floor patios but said CMC only complied after countless complaints.
“Our residents’ safety and well-being are our highest priority,” Scaparro said in an email. “It is true that residents must greet their visitors in the lobby rather than buzzing them through the secured hallways from their apartment, which is a security feature many residents appreciate but something we will reevaluate.”
Trash pickup problems
Trash pickup is another issue. Currently, Ashton Place’s trash chutes are closed due to nearby construction that has cut off dumpster access. Scaparro said maintenance staff picks up trash from rooms on each floor daily.
Residents, however, describe the hallways as a health hazard. In place of the chutes, CMC put a trash bin at the end of the halls in the stairwells, with scheduled pick-ups on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But when there are long weekends or if maintenance doesn’t come by, the trash bins stay full for days, attracting bugs and foul odors that leak through the exit doors and into the hallways.
Residents say before management placed bins in the stairwells, they were told to carry their trash outside to dumpsters. Jones said this was absurd for her neighbors with disabilities who live on their own.
When the seniors requested a “valet” trash service as a temporary solution, they were rebuffed. Scaparro said both management and residents were “cooperating to handle trash removal” until construction ends.
“We asked the maintenance guys to take it out. We were told that’s not in their job,” Davies said. “They just give us excuses.”
Filed complaints
According to state law, landlords have a “reasonable period of time” to make repairs and must do so immediately if the tenant reports imminently dangerous conditions.
In addition to filing complaints with management and DHIC, tenants have also complained to the city of Durham. Cynthia Hoskins, a resident in Willard Street, said she spoke with city officials without any results. Another Willard resident, Marquia Hargrove, filed a complaint with the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Services Department, which enforces codes to protect residents and homeowners.
She got a response back.
“The violations must be immediately corrected within 30 days of the postmark of this letter,” read a letter from Dawn Hill-Alston, the city’s code enforcement officer. “If repairs are not verified as completed within 30 days of the postmark of this letter, we will send a Findings of Fact and Order letter ordering the owner to comply.”
The city found Willard Street’s heating system had faulty thermostats and said if DHIC did not fix the problem, the company would be fined up to $300 a month. A work order showed the problem was corrected.
A culture of disrespect
Also central to the union’s fight is the demand for professional courtesy. The seniors describe management as dismissive and belittling.
“They’re young enough to be our grandchildren, but they have no respect,” said Renee Valentine, who is in her 60s. “They don’t understand what we want so when we ask for stuff, it’s outrageous, it’s outlandish, it’s too much, and they make smart comments.”
Valentine described a lack of thorough communication about staff changes or fire-alarm or sprinkler drills, which have caught residents by surprise. Kim Lovely, who is visually impaired, said this causes unnecessary hindrances, and she wonders if there have been violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“I’ve said to them that [for] all communication, they have to come speak to me, but they put stuff on paper and put it in my door,” she said. “I’m not going to know it unless I open my door and paper falls out, and again, I can’t see, how am I going to read it?”
Residents also claim they were verbally assured rent would not increase, only to receive increase notices weeks later.
Jones was paying $860 for her one-bedroom apartment but is now paying $900.
“For what? I’ve got to take my own trash out, I’ve got to struggle to breathe to go downstairs and get the emergency crews to get me? That’s crazy,” she said.
Scaparro notes that while CMC has heard complaints from a “few residents” about responsiveness, many others appreciate the team’s work. He said as a nonprofit, their mission is to provide “quality affordable housing” and that they have investigated every concern raised.
The path forward
Amid the friction, the act of unionizing has already forced small changes.
“We had no work orders until we formed this union,” Washington said, adding that now when maintenance comes to fix something, they leave a written report with details. “We didn’t have any evidence before this.”
As they prepare to meet with management on May 7, members of Ashton Seniors in Action and Willard Street United say they are clear: they will no longer accept “lip service.”
They are demanding 24/7 security, certified maintenance, and a permanent, sanitary solution to the trash problem.
“We need some action when we make a complaint that is timely—for our health, for our living,” Ramos said. “It’s just a matter of respect in terms of what we need, what we deserve, and what is legal. ... We don’t want to be dismissed.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Durham seniors moved in for community. Now they’ve organized a tenants union.."