Inspired by the BadLandlordsNola Facebook group, Look At This Landlord (LATL) puts a spotlight on landlords who have acquired especially bad reputations in New Orleans for slumlord activities. With this spotlight, we hope to organize tenants on these landlords.
Josh Bruno / Oakmont Tenant Committee
Josh Bruno filed for foreclosure because he did not pay his lenders. With tenants, we brought the conditions at his properties in front of a judge. Afraid of what the judge would do, he went bankrupt, and now tenants are claimants in his bankruptcy case. He will lose these properties. The Oakmont Tenant Committee is a group of Oakmont residents and former residents who are standing up to make sure tenants voices are heard and they get the assistance they need and to stand up for their rights.
Laura and Howard Russell
Laura and Howard Russell (aka HR Properties/HR Napoleon) own over a hundred properties in New Orleans and have been used by a number of tenants, fined by the city, and have new stories written about them. Still, they continue to fail to make repairs, they intimidate tenants and keep security deposits. Tenants have been injured or have developed medical conditions from being in their properties, several of which have had collapsing ceilings and infestations of invasive termite species. Even with these issues, they have risen the rent on their properties.