DENVER — J’Amy McLellan has overcome a lot in life.
“I made it through aggressive breast cancer with no need of any medications for my emotions or mental state,” she said.
And yet, despite overcoming so much personally, McLellan feels a bit like a prisoner in her own home lately — terrorized, she says, by the Green Valley Ranch Metro District and Homeowner's Association (HOA) after overcoming cancer in 2010.
“Almost 13 years later and I still can’t get the mail every day,” McLellan said. “I’ve received violations for having sheets in my window, which is unsettling when you live alone and someone’s looking so intently in your bedroom window to try to figure out what’s hanging in your window.”
Her story is not unique.
“My name is Monica Villela and we are a family of six,” Villela said as she introduced herself at a news conference Thursday morning in Denver. “We have four little kids.”
Out of the 119 HOA foreclosures in the City of Denver in 2021, 50 were in the Green Valley Ranch HOA, including Villela.
“Ridiculous fines, over $8,000. ” she said. “This is unfair. This is unbelievable, what they did to us."
“I wasn’t aware how egregious the problem was until some of the news reporting on it,” said Kevin Patterson, senior organizer with The Redress Movement Denver, a group standing up against abusive HOA practices.
The Redress Movement held a news conference Thursday in front of City of Denver’s Webb Building to call attention to what it believes are abusive HOA practices and a lack of oversight.
Among other things, the group is demanding demographic data on who is being fined and foreclosed on in Green Valley Ranch to determine whether it is race or income motivated.
“We want to make sure folks aren’t being displaced from this community,” Patterson said. “I’ve seen people from all across the globe represented in this neighborhood. I, myself, grew up in the neighborhood. And I don’t think people should be forced out or lose equity in their home because they have oil stains or broken blind shades.”
Neighbors are standing up for their fellow neighbors.
“I didn’t like what I was hearing,” said Green Valley Ranch resident Linda Wilson. “That’s not the neighborhood I moved into 27 years ago. I love my neighbors. I love how diverse we are.”
“You know what drives down value? A predatory HOA board that’s stealing people’s homes,” McLellan said. “They do nothing but terrorize the homeowners in our community.”
Denver7 reached out the Green Valley Ranch Metropolitan District and the HOA and did not receive a response for comment.
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