Francisco Cortijo has been without a home for the last three weeks.

Cortijo, a third year physics major at Oswego State, was forced to leave his apartment after the building, owned by landlord Douglas Waterbury, was condemned. Since Cortijo could find no other option for housing, he has gone between friends’ rooms and motels.

“One time I actually even spent a night in one of the residence hall lounges,” Cortijo said.

Two of Waterbury’s apartment buildings were condemned in September, leaving some of the former residents, like Cortijo, without a place to go. Approximately 42 percent of Oswego residents rent their home or apartment. Because of this, Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow has announced that he is improving code enforcement and raising the cost of landlords’ permits. These changes have left some students temporarily displaced.

Cortijo moved into the apartment with two friends at the beginning of the fall semester, paying $425 a month. He said he noticed problems with the place “immediately.”

“The only entrance and exit to the entire building was falling apart,” Cortijo said. “The top portion was caving in, so that was definitely not safe.”

Cortijo said the housing on the side of the roof had fallen off, the roof leaked whenever it rained, the carbon monoxide detectors did not work and there was no fire extinguisher in the building. 

“While moving in, my parents, who are both in law enforcement…told me the entire building is a fire hazard and that I should get out of there as soon as I could,” Cortijo said.

Though his housemate reported the issues to Waterbury, none of them were resolved. Two weeks after moving in, Cortijo’s building was condemned and he was given five days to move out. Cortijo looked into free housing through the Department of Social Services, which is based in Mexico, but did not meet the qualifications for housing through them.

“Being a student immediately disqualifies you because they count [the money] you get from the school as an income,” Cortijo said.

Residence Life and Housing also told Cortijo they could not help him.

“They basically said that because we weren’t signed on with the school that they can’t help us in any way,” Cortijo said. “They don’t offer temporary housing.”

Cortijo said Waterbury did offer him temporary housing after his apartment building was condemned, but he declined it.

“Me and my friends decided not to take it because that might invalidate our case to try to break the lease and sue him back for all our money,” Cortijo said.

Other Oswego State students were also recently removed from their Waterbury-owned homes. Alyssa Lopez, a junior zoology major, originally moved into her Waterbury Apartment because they allowed her to have her two dogs. When she toured the apartment, she noticed the cover of the mirror over the mantle was not connected to the fireplace and she was worried it would fall on her dog. She noticed other problems as well, all of which Waterbury promised to fix.

“The cabinets were falling apart and the floors were disgusting,” Lopez said. “They were sticky and grimy and he said that all of that was going to get fixed.”

The front porch of her building was “falling apart,” Lopez said. After she moved into the apartment, she spent $700 making it livable.

“We put de-greaser down and we scraped the floors clean, we re-waxed them, we painted the bedrooms,” Lopez said. “We had to put industrial strength Drano down the drains, we turned the water on and it was full of rust so it would come out black and rusty.” 

Finally, Lopez returned home late one night and found a skunk on her porch. She called Waterbury and “he told us that the skunk was our problem. It was our fault the skunk was living there, we were dirty and we had too much garbage,” Lopez said.

She complained about the skunk to code enforcement and, after a walkthrough, the building was condemned. Code enforcement found around 15 violations in her apartment. Lopez was able to move into a new apartment, but she was not able to have her dogs, which she has had since they were six weeks old.

Lopez said she doesn’t feel the apartment’s condemnation was her fault.

“My specific apartment, the inside, because I spent time and money, was really really nice,” Lopez said. “I had nice things, I had a nice floor. I took my time to make it look nice…We took care of what we could take care of. But the things that were out of our control [Waterbury] didn’t fix.”

Another student forced to leave his home was Kenneth Teamoh, a senior English major. Teamoh complained of similar problems: a leak in the ceiling, a bathtub that did not drain, a “dilapidated” front porch, no carbon monoxide or smoke detectors. Teamoh payed $975 a month for his one-bedroom apartment owned by Waterbury.

When code enforcement came to his apartment, Teamoh said they deemed it “uninhabitable and very dangerous to live in.” Over 20 people lived in his building and the whole thing was condemned, Teamoh said.

Teamoh will be moving back on campus after his unsuccessful off-campus experience. He said Waterbury’s practices turned him off to living off campus.

“It seems he does not particularly care for his tenants as people,” Teamoh said. “I feel he is more concerned with money instead of the well-being of the tenants.”

According to the New York State Tenants’ Rights Guide, “tenants have the right to a livable, safe and sanitary apartment, a right that is implied in every written or oral residential lease….Any uninhabitable condition caused by the tenant or persons under the tenant’s direction or control does not constitute a breach of the warranty of habitability; in such a case, it is the tenant’s responsibility to remedy the condition.”

The Tenants’ Rights Guide also states that landlords must keep their apartments in “good repair and clean and free of vermin, garbage or other offensive material.” Landlords are also required to “maintain electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating and ventilating systems and appliances landlords install, such as refrigerators and stoves, in good and safe working order. All repairs must be made within a reasonable time period.”

Additionally, the guide prescribes that smoke detectors must be installed in each apartment within 10 feet of each room used for sleeping, as well as carbon monoxide alarms within 15 feet of the primary entrance to each sleeping room.

“Landlords are responsible for replacing any detectors that are lost, stolen or become inoperable within the first year of use,” the Tenants’ Rights Guide says.

According to Lopez and Teamoh, Waterbury had a clause in his lease stating that their financial aid could be used as collateral for paying him rent.

“If we don’t pay him, he can sue us for all our financial aid,” Lopez said.

These three students, along with several others, are suing Waterbury in small claims court, which allows them to sue for a maximum of $5,000. Teamoh said Waterbury refused to give him his money back and avoided his questions. He is suing Waterbury for $2,918.

Waterbury declined an interview, but in a text message he said, “I’m not sure why they are suing as I have told them before they moved out that all accounts would be reconciled this week and all monies due would be forwarded immediately.”

Because the city of Oswego suffers from these problems, Barlow plans on stricter code enforcement.

“It is about time somebody starts holding these landlords accountable and starts standing up for tenant rights and quality of life in our neighborhoods,” Barlow said on Sept. 15, according to Oswego County today. “Homeowners and city residents should not suffer from an irresponsible landlord who offers deplorable living conditions that negatively affected nearby home values all in their own effort to make a buck.”

“I think that the stricter code enforcement is absolutely a good thing for our community as a whole,” Waterbury said. “Mayor Barlow is a good person and is doing a good job and we are working hard to support him in the process.”

One change being implemented is a rise in the cost of a rental permit for landlords. The permit previously cost $30 per property for a three-year period. Now, the cost has been raised to $150. Other landlords are not pleased about this hike in price.

Greg Furlong, a landlord for Premier Living Suites and Furlong Properties, has been a landlord for 20 years. He said the cost of the permit punishes good landlords.

“I don’t disagree that they should have gone up somewhat,” Furlong said. “I completely disagree that they’ve gone up five times more than they were. I feel that it’s unjustified.”

Premier Living Suites houses 71 students and Furlong Properties has 25 to 30 houses in the city of Oswego, so Furlong will have to pay a significantly higher amount for permits, money he said could go toward maintenance on his properties.

“With the money that the rental permits now cost, I could paint three houses, put up three roofs, side three new houses,” Furlong said. “…I will certainly not buy more properties at this point in time.”

Furlong believes an alternative solution is to “have fines for bad landlords.” Furlong said he has “never had a bad inspection” and that he works hard to maintain his properties.

“I would consider our properties the upper echelon, higher standard,” Furlong said. “…I understand what they’re trying to do. I just don’t agree with the way they’re doing it.”

Fifth Ward Councilor John Gosek agreed that there are “a lot of good landlords” in Oswego. However, he said this crackdown on landlords is necessary.

“There’s an awful lot of slumlords in Oswego,” Gosek said. “They’ve been getting away with murder for years.”

Gosek said the plan is to hire new code enforcement officers, “create a more robust department to streamline the permitting process,” and crack down on problem rental properties. He said they are also talking to people about removing bad landlords from their list of landlords in Oswego.

Gosek said he applauds Barlow for taking action and that the housing situation in Oswego has been “stagnant for 11 years.”

“I think [Barlow] is doing the right thing,” Gosek said. “I think this is long overdue. They’ve been letting these things slide literally for decades.”

In addition to what the city is doing, Lopez, Cortijo and Teamoh said they feel Oswego State should do more to aid students in a housing crisis.

Lopez said she would have appreciated “just a little bit of support in any way” when she was trying to find a new place to live after her apartment was condemned.

“In my opinion, the school should be like, ‘all right, look: we have an empty dorm room. Just stay here for the next couple weeks and then you can move out,’” Lopez said. “They didn’t do any of that.”

“In talking to a lot of people who live off campus, they feel like they don’t have the same resources as the on campus students do. There’s no one to go to that’s advocating for you.”

Cortijo said he wants to see Oswego State offer counseling for students living off campus to give them direction. He said he also wants to see Waterbury’s name taken off the list of landlords provided by the college.

“It’s surprising to me that someone has been doing this for this long and the school continues to print out his name as if he were a trustworthy person,” Cortijo said.

According to Jerri Howland, the dean of students, approximately 3,600 Oswego State students live off campus. Howland said these students receive resources and assistance.

“Students who live on or off campus have the same level of support to ensure they are successful students,” Howland said.

Howland said she met with six students on Sept. 26 to discuss their experiences with being forced to leave their off-campus housing.

“Anytime students who live off campus find themselves in need of housing we will work with Residence Life & Housing to find them a suitable accommodation if space is available,” Howland said.

Cortijo said the upheaval has taken a toll on him academically, financially and emotionally.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen behind in four out of five of my classes that all have to do with my major,” Cortijo said. “I’ve been stressed out this entire time trying to balance work and school and every single night asking yourself, ‘where am I going to sleep tonight?’ It’s not easy.”