Residents of Williamsburg of Cincinnati, soon to be re-branded as The Hartwell, went before Cincinnati City Council Thursday.Their call for help from city leaders came weeks after representatives of owners, GoldOllar, walked out of a tenants association meeting because they didn't want to discuss issues while our cameras were in the room.'We need some type of transparency in what rent is actually covering," Tenants Association President Krystyna Kamp said in public comment.GoldOllar purchased the property in October from receivership after a lawsuit from the city drove former ownership out.Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati attorney John Altman said GoldOllar has since changed the way rent is charged, and the presence of "junk fees" drives up prices without clear transparency about what rent covers or what the cost of living would be month to month."My experience with people who are on fixed income and low incomes is it becomes incredibly difficult for people to budget their housing expenses when they don't actually know what they are going to have to pay at the end of the month," Altman said.Altman listed a series of fees processed at Williamsburg, including a pest control fee, technology fee, admin fee, billing fee, internet fee and more.Other tenants we talked to complained of sewer backups into their apartments, leaking roofs, flooding, loss of water service, issues with heating and cooling, and, for Melvin and Tonya Kidd, a problem with mice."This has been really bad," Tonya told us. "You really lose sleep."The couple was in the room when GoldOllar representatives walked out of the tenants association meeting."I felt disrespected," Melvin said.Melvin said he and his wife have shared the apartment for a year and a half, and they've dealt with rodents the entire time."With us paying our rent, we figured they could sit there and take in what we're talking about," he said.Homeless Coalition Deputy Director Rico Blackman spoke on the tenant's behalf as well, and, outside of council chambers, told us price control would be complicated with rent control policies banned by state law. He said "junk fee" regulation at the city level could, however, make price increases more transparent."The bottom line, until rent control is fully enacted in the state of Ohio, in Cincinnati, we're going to continue to see rents increase," Blackman said.After Kamp finished asking for help from council, Council Member Anna Albi asked for a moment to address the concerns."My office, along with Council Member Nolan and Owens, are working on junk fee legislation and coordinating with Rico to come and meet with you all at the residence, so thank you for being here," she said.We have reached out to city administration to see what additional aid they could provide to tenants in the near future.We reached out to GoldOllar representatives to address the accusations and talk about potential solutions, but haven't heard back. ...read more read less