HONOLULU -- A lawsuit says low-income tenants at a city apartment project in Salt Lake have been over-charged thousands of dollars in rent for more than a decade.

Westlake Apartments off Ala Ilima Street in Salt Lake is a federally subsidized housing project. A class-action lawsuit on behalf of former and current low-income tenants in the 95-unit complex, claims they have been over charged rent for more than 10 years.

"To me, it feels like they're taking advantage of the poor people," resident Balinda Rivera said.

The city has failed to recalculate tenants' utility allowances in spite of sky rocketing electricity rates, according to the lawsuit. That means many of them, like Rivera, who is confined to a wheelchair, have been overpaying at least $100 a month in rent.

"I'm a single person. I was married, divorced, my son's moved away, I'm disabled and it's hard, it's really, really hard," Rivera said.

"All we can do is wish for the best and hopefully we do get the money back," resident Heather Kekahuna said.

Victor Geminiani of the nonprofit legal aid group called Lawyers for Equal Justice is their attorney.

"Many are retired, many are disabled, living on fixed incomes, and the fact that they've been charged $100 or more a month overpayments is significant," Geminiani said.

Besides overcharging tenants for rent for years, the city has deceived the federal government by certifying that their rents here have been calculated properly, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit said each tenant who lived there six years or more is owed at least $6,000.

"I mean, it's not a million dollars or anything, but it sure would feel like a million dollars to me," Rivera said.