LEWISTON — Eighty Lewiston downtown residents recently gathered with the Neighborhood Housing League staff, Visible Community volunteers, Healthy Androscoggin and Pine Tree Legal to discuss housing, lead and pest issues.

More than 60 adults and 20 children from the Lewiston downtown attended, many of whom are facing these issues first hand. Over a dozen had visible scarring and sores from bed bug infestations. The residents were trained on lead and pest abatement and a representative from Pine Tree Legal informed residents about tenant rights and landlord responsibilities regarding lead and pests. Cleaning supplies were handed out to attendees thanks to donations made by Healthy Androscoggin and Visible Community, and food and free child care were also provided.

Shanna Rogers, the new resident coordinator for the Neighborhood Housing League, said “It really was heartbreaking to see so many families who are doing the right thing, taking the right steps, still living in unsafe conditions.”

The attendees were sent home with cleaning supplies and are now equipped with the information and that know-how to better protect their families from unsafe conditions in the home. The residents are now aware of the legal repercussions if their landlord does not respond appropriately to their concerns about their living conditions.

Genevieve Lysen, affordable housing organizer for the Maine People’s Alliance, expressed concern about the number of tenants who had taken the appropriate steps, but whose landlords refused to do what, the attendees learned, they are legally obligated to do.

During the question and answer portion of the event, residents touched on the fact again and again that they had done all that they felt they could do – cleaning, throwing out furniture and other belongings and repeatedly calling their landlord. Regardless of all of their efforts, the residents were still facing unsafe, uncomfortable and dangerous living situations.

The training is one in a series of trainings developed to meet the needs of downtown residents, 400 of whom filled out a survey in December regarding their housing situation. Lead and pests were identified as one of the top concerns of Lewiston downtown residents.