New Haven - Carmen Maldonado describes the living conditions in her Church Street South apartment as less than ideal.
“I have a little mold in the bathroom,” she said, “two times I called to fix my windows, they never came.”
Her son Gabriel Ramirez points out, thankfully, they are better than other condemned units at the complex.
“Some people who had asthma and everything they had to get out right away cause that was not good for their health,” Ramirez said.
The city, federal housing officials and the property owner, Northland Investment Corp., are handling the relocation of tenants already forced to leave condemned units.
“For the interim, they are being put up in hotels and transitional facilities,” Mayor Toni Harp (D) said.
Tenants showed NBC Connecticut in August some of the deteriorating conditions in the 47-year-old housing complex.
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“Are you satisfied with the relocation of those who are in condemned apartments so far?” NBC Connecticut asked Mayor Toni Harp.
“Well, you know I think things have taken a little longer than we had hoped,” she said.
The priority of Elm City Communities, the city’s housing authority, is to find permanent homes for families with Section 8 vouchers that have already been forced to move out, Mayor Harp said.
"We have made substantial progress in a very short period of time," Northland Chairman of the Board Larry Gottesdiener said in a statement to NBC Connecticut. We have relocated over 50 families into hotel rooms, and have completed assessments on all of the displaced families. Most of those families are looking at new apartments and our goal is to have all or most of them in replacement housing by thanksgiving. The on-site resident assessments are beginning as soon as tomorrow. All of this has been accomplished through a lot of hard work and teamwork by LCI, HAHN, HUD, and Northland, with one goal in mind - the health, safety, and well-being of the residents.”
Ramirez tells NBC Connecticut his aunt and three children are now staying at hotel in East Haven.
“No one knows if they’ll be able to come back here,” Ramirez said, “no one knows the plan long term.”
Maldonado hopes she doesn’t end up in the same situation, if she’s told to leave her home of the past two years.
“Christmas is coming, the New Year is coming,” she said, “I don’t want to be in a hotel for a long time, if they want to move us, it’s better they move us to a place right away.”
