'A Significant Problem'

Teri Jensen-Sellers has lived in Pottstown for roughly 10 years and watched a lot of properties deteriorate.

Several residential buildings in the borough are owned by landlords who live in other cities and ignore their rental properties in Pottstown, she said.

“It’s a significant problem … A lot of these properties have criminal activity,” she said of urban blight in the borough. “(Slumlords) are exploiting our community for their own personal gain."

On Friday, Jensen-Sellers and several other borough residents protested a “slumlord” owner of a property on King Street. 

“We’re hoping to get some momentum and acknowledgement,” she said. 

Jensen-Sellers said she is pleased Pottstown Manager Jason Bobst supports her group’s efforts. Bobst created a master list of property owners who owe the borough money, she said. 

“I want landlords to be accountable … pay what they owe, clean up their litter, do criminal background checks on their tenants,” she said. 

Avi Tinson said she was pleased to see the protest against bad landlords.

She rented an apartment in the 400 block of King street for several weeks and moved out about a month ago because the landlord refused to fix problems in the unit.

“The door was cracked … bugs and flies and everything was getting in, the plumbing was bad,” she said and added she paid $550 a month to live in the apartment.

Now, she’s looking for a new place to live.

“It’s so hard,” she said of finding an affordable, decent place to rent in Pottstown.