Welton Park Apartments Go More Than a Week Without Water

Property company Greystar is accused of mismanagement by renters at Welton Park.

Residents of Welton Park apartments in Denver were at their wit’s end fighting for water with rental housing industry leader Greystar after having no clean running water for ten days. The problem started when residents were notified that the water would be shut off due to a large leak in one of the hallways.

What followed was ten days of no clean running water for 195 of the affected units in the apartment block. Residents, stripped of their basic fundamental right to clean water, were forced to use portable toilets and one single garden hose to fill up whatever containers they could carry with water. Days had gone by with no word back from the building management, Greystar, a company that has thousands of units in Colorado, on what was happening. Frustrated residents started reaching out for help, desperate to have their water back. 

It turns out that this isn’t the first crisis that Welton Apartments has experienced and that tenants have had continuous problems with Greystar. A long-term resident of six years from the Welton Park apartment block, who wished to be known as L on the 4th Floor, shares their experience dealing with Greystar, which hasn’t been positive. Their welcome to Welton Park was off to a rocky start. Their apartment became an active crime scene for seven days and was displaced for several months, with the apartment building management refusing her request to move to a different unit.

L on the 4th Floor admitted, “We’ve gone without water before, but not to this extent.” This time was the tenants’ final straw. For years, residents have been battling with recurring rodent infestations with no proper help from the building owners. The tenants have gone without heat before, and other smaller issues where the building owner refused to replace broken items. L on the 4th Floor shared that staffing is a problem in the building and that every time a manager tried to help the residents, they’re replaced shortly after. In all their years of living in Welton Park, they do not feel that Greystar has any consideration for their tenants.

MiDian Holmes of the Urban Leadership Foundation

This lack of water debacle is just another form of lack of service and consideration. Greystar provides residents with hotel stays or meal vouchers but Welton Park residents were not informed of the program. L on the 4th Floor highlights the irony that the third day after the water was back, the building put notices up explaining that they were upgrading the units for internet availability at an additional cost. Yet they didn’t once put up a single notice about the extended water problems or how they would be helping the tenants during the water crisis. In fact, tenants had no clue that the building was giving out hotel vouchers until MiDian Holmes, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, got involved. Eventually, it got to the point where Holmes forced the building owners to print out notices, and she put them on tenants’ doors.     

In addition to the hotel vouchers, residents were provided portable toilets from Greystar. However, this required tenants, including the elderly, to walk outside through cold and dangerous weather to get to the toilets. L on the 4th Floor explained that during that time, 195 units had to all use just one elevator that worked, as the second one was out of order that entire week, to cart water back and forth. With only one elevator working, residents on the top floors had to wait five minutes at a time to get into the lift just to use the restroom. This was frustrating and increasingly dangerous, with residents worried about what would happen in case a mass evacuation needed to occur. 

By the end of a week without water, residents were fed up with the lack of care from Greystar. A list of four demands was issued with Holmes and community leaders to address the ongoing water crisis. These demands read:

1.  Prorated Rent for all 195 units for the month of April.
2.  Public release of the maintenance report with results from the water testing to ensure water is safe for drinking.
3.  A formal apology from Greystar Management to all residents.
4.  Commitment from Greystar Management to undergo environmental equity training.

During her investigation, Holmes learned that the problem with the pipes was due to a combination of low water pressure and flame retardant that was eating away at the pipes and causing corrosion. According to Holmes, it had become clear that the building was aware of this problem early on and that the pipes bursting was a symptom of a problem they already knew about. Now, Holmes is still fighting to get a maintenance report to ensure that the building is up to code and if tenants need to be prepared for another disaster.   

Campaign photo for Denver city councilman Darrell Watson

In an email sent to leaders in local Greystar offices, Holmes listed the demands created by community leaders and told the Greystar employees, “It is deeply troubling that both our team and the community at large have yet to receive any form of acknowledgment from your end regarding the water outage at Welton Parks Apartments.” Holmes added, “Our voices will not be silenced.” 

A Denver City Council member, Darrell Watson, became aware of the water crisis five days into the first week when a resident sent a communication to his office. Watson began working with the Denver Department of Health and Environment and Greystar to try to investigate the cause of the water leak and how to resolve it as a matter of urgency. Watson explained, “We began speaking from the first moment we heard about this. We had communications with Greystar pretty much every day.” Watson added, “As a city council member, I was clear what I needed.” Watson gathered information about why the leak occurred, who was going to fix it, and how they were providing the residents with relief.    

As the days passed without a trip to the taps, the Denver Department of Public Health & Environment issued notices of violation. According to the Housing Code, Chapter 27 of the Denver Revised Municipal Code, all dwellings within the city and county of Denver are required to have clean running water. 

The water was eventually restored on March 15, 2024, but according to Holmes, the problems are far from resolved. The first demand that community members issued was prorated rent for all 195 units for the month of April. However, in a shocking move, it turns out that Greystar was in the process of increasing the rent. L on the 4th Floor shared that “A lot of us found out during the water crisis” and that “I was the only one that received any notification.” However, Holmes disagreed with the prorate and says that the tenants are entitled to a three-month rent concession according to the directives of the Denver Fair Housing Authority. Holmes shared her frustration about dealing with Greystar on rent concession: “It does not seem that Greystar is willing to have an in-depth conversation about that.” Holmes is also waiting for a public apology from Greystar to offer tenants the dignity they deserve for their suffering. “They need to truly open up an apology to the Colorado community.”