Dozens of people In New Haven couldn't get into their home on Friday night after they were forced to evacuate their apartments when the building was condemned on Thursday.
The apartment complex on Norton Street had police tape blocking the entrance and danger signs posted on the doors with the people who live inside wanting to know when they’re going to have more than a temporary roof over their heads.
"Terrible. I came home after 6 o’clock in the evening. I had 15 minutes to evacuate the apartment," one resident, Monique Paige, said.
The Paige family called Thursday complete chaos and said most of their belongings are still inside of the condemned Norton Towers Apartments. Currently, they’re staying with their two young children in a motel and are unsure of where they’ll be staying after the weekend.
"My rent is being paid, I do everything that they need done. Why I can’t live comfortable with my two kids?” wife Monique Paige, who shares the same name as her partner, said.
New Haven Director of Emergency Operations Rick Fontana said the 40-unit building housed 77 residents including pets. Thirty-seven of the units were occupied in the approximately 100-year-old building, he added.
Fontana described the evacuation as a smooth process, happening over the course of a few hours and said most of the tenants went to three local motels.
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"We didn’t bang on the doors [and] move them out. We said this is what’s going on, this is what you need to do. We gave them time. We had a bus out here," Fontana said.
A collaboration between the New Haven’s Livable City Initiative, building official, fire marshal, structural engineer and more determined the building was unsafe.
A letter from Cuoco Structural Engineers, LLC to New Haven Building Inspector Jim Turcio on Thursday said they found deteriorating framing on the first floor, unsupported floor joists, even failing to sheathe. It’s supplemented with pictures taken inside.
"Basically the plumbing system is holding up the building. We have rotted steel beams," Turcio said.
Property Manager Mendy Katz said there were structural engineers on site Thursday to further assess. He’s trying to rehouse tenants as soon as possible because the motels are only paid for until Monday.
Katz lined up at least five apartments for tenants to move into Monday. He and his co-workers plan to call different property managers over the weekend. He is asking tenants to work with him to find another place to live.
The owner of the property, Ernest Schemitsch, based in New York, said Katz will do whatever needs to be done to fix in the building.
The responsibility to care for tenants falls on the owner of the building, Fontana said, who added he and his staff will advocate on behalf of the tenants to make sure they’re housed.
