BILLINGS - For the first time in years, Billings mother Angie Schmidt felt like she was finally on stable ground.
“This is the first time in years I’ve been on my feet,” she said.
She’s been in her two-bedroom apartment off Grand Avenue for 13 months, but now she faces uncertainty after the complex was sold.
“My biggest goal is to not be homeless between here and the next place,” she said.
After all, she’s trying to keep a stable home for her son, 9-year-old Skyler.
“He’s number one, I can’t work more hours and still get him what he needs,” she said. “Basically, I live paycheck to paycheck to make that happen.
Schmidt isn’t alone in living paycheck to paycheck, so when she learned her apartment complex was sold and the rent would increase, worry set in.
“They canceled out the lease and they said if we wanted to stay it would be $1300 a month,” she said. “They increased it by 85 percent.”
She says back in March she learned the complex was purchased by Duane and Tiffany Youngren of Billings.
However, Schmidt says she already signed a new lease that same month that is supposed to be honored until March of 2026.
She says the Youngrens didn’t care.
“They’ve served me two papers to terminate my lease without cause,” she explained. “And there’s just no reason for me to leave, this is my home.”
What’s happening to Schmidt, is happening to Montanans all across the state, rent is rising and forcing some tough decisions.
“We have seen the number of people calling us asking us about evictions raise dramatically,” said Amy Hall of Helena.
Hall is an attorney with Montana Legal Services which helps Montanans protect their civil rights. She says the calls coming into their office surrounding evictions have increased some 20 percent.
In 2023, MLSA received 1,400 requests for legal assistance related to evictions, compared to 1,053 in 2022.
In 2023 alone, the agency received 347 more requests for eviction help than in 2022.
Hall says property owners are facing some tough decisions as well through mounting property taxes.
“We all know that property taxes have risen and those are costs that must be absorbed by the property owner, so yes, they may need to raise the rent some. But hopefully, they could be compassionate with those rent increases,” said Hall.
Right now, in Billings the median price for rent is $1,349 a month.
And to afford a two-bedroom unit in Montana, someone would have to earn $19.28 an hour, which only covers the rent, not other expenses.
But Montana has a deficit of 16,620 affordable rentals available to those with extremely low income, according to Hall.
“So, if you are a single mom, on disability making 900 a month on SSI, how are you going to pay the average rent in Billings of $1,350?” said Hall. “It’s not possible.”
However, in Schmidt’s case, where a contract lease was already in place, Hall says the renter could have protections in the eyes of Montana law.
“It’s presumed when a property is sold, if a renter is living there, the buyer has to be informed of that,” said Hall “And knows that if they go ahead and purchase the property a buyer buys the property, that they are purchasing it subject to the renter’s lease.”
She says, within reason.
“Montana law sets the grounds for eviction, and they include things such as having an unauthorized person or unauthorized animal living on your premises, causing damage to the premises,” said Hall.
MTN News reached out to the new property owners of the apartment complex, who declined to comment for the story.
However, Schmidt, who’s contacted a lawyer believes the new owners have no legal grounds to force her out of her rental, so she says, she’s not leaving.
“I just once again don’t want to be homeless in between,” she said. “And I am going to stand strong until I reach that goal.”
You can learn more about Angie Schmidt's situation by visiting the family's Gofundme link here
