TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Malibu Apartments Tenants Association is fighting to keep organizing in the midst of — what they claim is — retaliation from the complex management.
They were joined by Tucson Tenants Union and a few other tenants from the apartment who don't claim to be part of the Tenants Association.
Missy Arroyo started the Tenant's Association at the Malibu Apartments in early March of 2024. She said she was tired of the complex's living conditions and what she saw as a lacking response from management.
“I want to go and tell people about their rights...other tenants," she said. "I didn’t know we had rights. To me, I couldn’t live like that forever. I went the whole summer with no AC. If I pay my rent, and that’s not the problem, why don’t you fix the things that are broken in my apartment?”
She says that after the Tenants Association's second meeting, she and the vice president of the association, along with several other members voted in as officers, were given eviction or written notices asking them to vacate within 10 days.
Arroyo said that's why they're rallying.
"Just because I’m single and I’m a woman doesn’t give you the right to walk all over me," she said. "It doesn’t give you the right to take my rights away. Who do you think you are?”
KGUN9 has been following Arroyo for a few months now. She says she has until April 30th to move out of her apartment but says she will keep fighting for tenants in the Malibu Apartments even after she moves.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
