After two hearings, the Philadelphia Fair Housing Commission (FHC) has ruled that Alden Park’s property management retaliated against the Tenants Association leader, Kadi Ashby. 

Late last year, Ashby received a non-renewal on her lease, stripping the newly formed tenants association of its leader. At the time, Ashby was not given a reason for the non-renewal, something not required for year-to-year leases. 

Ashby fought back, alleging retaliation, and got her case before the FHC. The commission issued its ruling on May 12.

Later at the hearings, the property managers, L3C Alden Park Apartments, claimed they did not renew Ashby’s lease because of posts she made in a tenant group chat, linking to Zillow listings of L3C executives' “multi–million dollar houses.”

During the hearing, Ashby’s lawyer, Madison Gray, a Public Interest Law Center attorney, presented internal emails from L3C, saying they need to “focus on the two to three ring leaders of the association.” 

“I joined the Alden Park Tenant Association to fight for safer living conditions for myself and my neighbors, but instead of addressing the serious problems in our building, my landlord tried to push me out,” said Ashby. “This ruling makes clear that tenants have the right to organize and speak up for safe housing without fear of retaliation, no matter what a landlord says or does.”

Ashby’s case gained attention as an example of retaliation used to advocate for the Safe Healthy Homes bills pushed through City Council by Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke. 

Under the bills, which Mayor Cherelle Parker signed into law on May 7, “good cause” protections for lease non-renewals expanded to include all leases, including year-to-year. Previously, Philadelphia law did not require landlords to provide a good cause reason for non-renewal. 

Look for the full story in next week’s paper. 

Here is the Local’s previous reporting on this issue.