Housing provider, city sued

A woman has sued a nonprofit housing provider, the City of Shelton and four police officers for wrongly evicting her from a subsidized apartment in downtown Shelton.

Michelle Engles, 62, claims Crossroads Housing and the Shelton Police Department violated the Residential Landlord Tenant Act by removing her from a one-bedroom transitional unit on Cota Street that Crossroads supplied, according to a federal complaint filed on Oct. 2.

“Crossroads and Ms. Engles entered into a rental agreement under which Ms. Engles agreed to pay monthly rent, just like any other renter. After two years, Crossroads decided that Ms. Engles was not a suitable tenant and that it no longer wished to rent to her. However, instead of going through the unlawful detainer process, Crossroads simply called local law enforcement at the City of Shelton Police Department and instructed them to remove Ms. Engles from her home,” the complaint states.

Crossroads filed an unlawful detainer complaint against Engles in Mason County Superior Court on April 9.

The transitional housing is a two-year program, and households should be removed when they exceed the maximum time, Crossroads stated in the complaint.

Engles leased the unit from Crossroads on April 12, 2022 and her tenancy was up, according to the nonprofit.

Crossroads served Engles with a 30-day notice to vacate Feb. 28.

Crossroads “does not inform participants that their participation in the program, and tenancy, will end after two years,” Northwest Justice Project, representing Engles in superior and federal court, wrote in an answer to the unlawful detainer.

Crossroads Executive Director Tanya Frazier disputed that in court filings, stating Engles knew the conditions of transitional housing.

“All of this information, Ms. Engles either signed or was made aware of. Ms. Engels is under the Consolidated Homeless Grant (CHG) Rental Assistance Program. The funding for this is for two years for each individual. This is a part of the documentation she was provided. One of which says she is aware of the transitional housing program guidelines. She has been in the program for two years and has ‘aged out’ as we indicated in the complaint,” Frazier wrote in the unlawful detainer action filings.

Frazier did not respond to a request for comment about the federal complaint.

Engles and Crossroads reached an agreement that Engles could remain in the apartment until July 1 if she dismissed the appeal of the eviction.

While the eviction was proceeding, two of Engles’ neighbors requested protection orders against her.

The first was filed on March 8 and granted after a hearing on March 26.

In the petition, Engles’ neighbor wrote that she was scared of Engles and Engles was harassing her.

“On 3/8/24 when I was leaving my apartment to go to work, Michelle Engles opened her front door and proceeded to verbally harass me. She said ‘You empty that colostomy bag? Cause there is a lot of [expletive] coming from upstairs,’” the neighbor wrote.

“What she said was beyond hurtful and absolutely harassment of my medical condition which already makes me feel depressed,” according to the petition.

Engles also played loud music for harassment, banged on the window when the neighbor’s children walked by and the neighbor called the police about Engles’ behavior several times, the petition states.

The second neighbor filed a protection order on April 29 and it was granted on May 22.

In that petition, the neighbor claimed Engles blocked her and her child from entering their apartment and later insulted the neighbor’s son.

“Upon returning from getting my son from daycare, Engles asked me what was wrong with my son (with my son present) and started to accuse me of using drugs while pregnant. Kept asking, ‘What’s wrong with him? You did drugs? You were on drugs with him?’” according to the petition.

The neighbor also said Engles’ guest tried to enter her home and the neighbor called the police.

In the federal complaint, Engles claims that after she moved out, Crossroads posted a letter on the doors of all Crossroad apartments stating it had obtained a “non-trespass order” against Engles, and Engles would be arrested if she returned to the property.

“Ms. Engles felt humiliated by defendants’ treatment of her. She also felt banished from the only community of people she knew in Shelton, the people living in Crossroads housing,” according to the complaint.

The suit also names Shelton police officers Calvin Moran, Justin Whitley, Chris Downs and Gary Portillo.

“The treatment of Ms. Engles is part of a disturbing trend of housing providers and local authorities circumventing the law, resulting in illegal displacement of residents and potential civil rights violations,” Northwest Justice Project said in a statement.

“I was terrified of being homeless again. The police came to my apartment several times, threatened to arrest me, and finally escorted me out with my hands behind my back. They treated me like a criminal in my own home,” Engles said in a statement.

City Manager Mark Ziegler told the Journal in an Oct. 4 email that he had not seen the complaint so couldn’t comment.