EUGENE, Ore. – A struggle between a property management company and tenants heated up Friday morning as protestors held a demonstration inside the company’s office.
Back on July 5, law enforcement showed up at Candice King’s residence on Almaden Street in Eugene to evict her, only to be met with protestors who had been camping outside the house since June 26. Protestors at the scene claimed King had offered to buy the house she was living in from property owner, but they refused the offer. In March 2023, King stopped paying rent in protest of the property owner’s decision, leading to the July eviction.
Shortly after King was evicted, she moved back into the home and continues to live there surrounded by supporters camping outside her door, despite continuing efforts to evict her again.
According to protestors, in mid-July R&R Properties, the company managing the home that King was evicted from, sent letters to other nearby tenants threatening to start eviction proceedings on August 1 if the tenants did not remove the protestors from their collective driveway. Protestors said R&R declared the protestors as guests, and invoked the guest policy of their tenants’ lease to threaten eviction.
Protestors said one group of tenants decided to leave for other housing, but two more stopped paying rent on August 1, using the same tactic as King to try to pressure the landlord into selling the building.
“We were dragged into this just because we live in the same space, not because we actually violated our lease or did anything wrong,” one tenant said in a written statement. “R&R is willing to makes us homeless to try and make this problem go away, but we refuse to let them bully us out of our community.”
On August 4, a few of the protestors demonstrated inside the office of R&R Properties. Protests also continued at the Almaden Street residence, as well as the home of the property owner, who lives in California.