“I’m Feeling Good. Thankful. Blessed”

The very first apartment that Perniecia Smith lived in after moving out of her family’s home in Hamden was at the former Church Street South complex in the Hill.

She and her 10-year-old son had to move out of the now-razed apartment after just a year because of persistent mold and water damage — and are now two of roughly 1,000 former tenants eligible to be compensated for that harm as part of a newly proposed $18.75 million settlement with the landlord.

Smith was one of roughly 40 former Church Street South tenants to attend an informational meeting about that proposed settlement Friday afternoon that was held on the second floor of Trinity Lutheran Church at 292 Orange St.

“You can’t really replace what we went through,” Smith said, echoing a common refrain spoken by many tenants Friday who said they suffered through unsafe conditions at Church Street South and live today with lingering health problems and without furniture, clothing, and child’s toys lost to mold.

“But I’m feeling good. Thankful. Blessed.”

Friday’s meeting was organized and led by local civil rights attorney David Rosen, who first filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of a handful of former Church Street South tenants towards the end of 2016. 

Rosen gave a detailed presentation about the terms of the newly proposed agreement his firm has struck with the former 301-unit complex’s landlord, the Massachusetts-based Northland Investment Corp. 

That proposed settlement, which Rosen formally submitted to state Superior Court Judge Linda Lager Friday morning, would see Northland pay a total of $18.75 million to put an end to a three-and-a-half-year legal battle in which Rosen and his clients sought monetary damages for the respiratory problems, skin disorders, migraines, loss of furniture, dislocation and homelessness allegedly suffered by families because of rampant mold, leaking ceilings, and other hazards at the now-razed former low-income housing complex across from Union Station.

Northland denied those charges, and the settlement would not require either side to admit they they were in the wrong.

“We were all faced with a very difficult situation after the historic winter of 2015, and I am proud of the way Northland responded to secure safe, quality, long-term housing for the Church Street South families,” Northland CEO Lawrence Gottesdiener is quoted as saying in a press statement released by his company Friday. ​“This was the result of an extraordinary partnership between New Haven’s Livable City Initiative, Elm City Communities, HUD, and Northland. Now those families are being compensated for that disruption and distress.” See below for Northland’s full statement on the proposed settlement.

As part of the settlement, each individual who lived at Church Street South sometime between December 2013 and December 2016 could receive roughly $11,000 to $17,000, and sometimes more, depending on how long they lived there and on whether or not they suffered mold-related injuries. Click here to read the proposed settlement in full.

“I didn’t live there,” said Rosen (pictured). But, based on his firm’s extensive research into conditions at the former Church Street South apartments and based on conversations and interviews with nearly 300 former tenants he represented in the class action, he knew ​‘everybody had it bad at Church Street South.” Some had it worse than others.

This proposed settlement represents an opportunity for those former tenants to receive some kind of justice for the harm and stress they have lived through because of their association with the complex.

And that’s exactly how many in the room Friday reflected on the settlement — not as a panacea to all of life’s struggles, but as something that will help themselves and their kids live higher-quality lives going forward.

Smith (pictured in the red coat), 33, said that she and her son lost a whole mess of mattresses, clothing, toys, and furniture from their one year at Church Street South.

“We’re still replacing everything that was damaged due to the mold,” she said. ​“I’m still replacing everything that was lost.”

She and her son now live in Newhallville. She said they both have asthma.

“I had to start all over” after being forced to leave Church Street South, she said.

If she successfully files a claim and receives money as part of the proposed settlement, she said, she would likely spend that money buying new clothing and furniture to make up for what her family lost at their former apartment.

“You can’t really replace all that was damaged,” she said. But this money should help.

Sheree Murphy (pictured) said the same. She said that she and her daughter lived for roughly 14 years at Church Street South. She said her mom was one of the first tenants to move in back when the low-income housing complex opened in the early 1970s.

“I believe the settlement was good,” Murphy said. ​“I’m thankful. God is good.”

She said living at Church Street South was exactly like the pictures that Rosen showed at the top of his presentation: of wet and sagging ceilings, of mold creeping along walls in kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms.

“My daughter was always getting sick,” she said. ​“She’s now on medication.”

If she receives money from the settlement, Murphy said she will likely put most of those funds towards paying for her daughter’s college tuition at UCONN. She said her daughter is slated to graduate from Amistad High this year, and has already been admitted to the state university.

She said she’ll also use some of that money to pay for doctor’s visits to make sure that her own health is doing ok.

“I’m going to contact my neighbors, too,” Murphy said about her former fellow Church Street South residents who were not present at Friday’s presentation.

Murphy said she works as a housekeeper at the New Haven Lawn Club. She and her daughter live in an apartment on Mill River Street.

Elias Perez, 35, said he lived at Church Street South for roughly four years, and that his late father lived there for roughly 17.

He said his former apartment had a leak in the ceiling and a faulty boiler, and that he and his family were always getting sick.

How would he use any money received through the settlement?

“I’d pay off bills,” he said. ​“They stack up whether you work or not.

“Right now I’m swimming in bills,” he continued.

Those aren’t just utility bills, he said, but also medical bills. He said he is currently a cancer patient and is collecting disability.

Sitting right next to Perez, Ramel Contey, 30, said he too would use any settlement money he gets to pay down bills that just keep stacking up.

“I would also definitely use that towards finding a new apartment,” he said. He said he currently works at Whalley Glass, but still struggles to make ends meet while providing not just for himself but for his three children who also lived through Church Street South.

“It sucks to have had kids go through that,” he said about the mold and constant leaks in his former apartment. ​“That hurt the most.”

Leeza Skovinski (pictured) knew a little more about the proposed settlement than most of the tenants in the room Friday. That’s because she had read through the 84-page document posted on Rosen’s website before turning up for the meeting.

“I think if David thinks it’s good, it’s great,” she said.

She said she would invest most of the money in her five-year-old son — helping pay for everything from sports equipment and after-school activities to new clothing and, ideally, a new apartment.

“I got moved from a moldy apartment to one with no hot water,” she said about her two years living at Church Street South. She said she is now completing a social work degree via online courses. Getting some money through the settlement would help cover bills and living expenses until she graduates and gets a full-time job.

“It was tough,” she said about living at, and then being forced to move from, Church Street South.

And the prospect of monetary compensation thanks to the proposed settlement.

“It would affect my life in a major way.”

Below is Northland CEO Lawrence Gottesdiener’s full statement in response to the proposed settlement. Below that is a video of Rosen describing details of the proposed settlement during a Friday afternoon press conference at his Orange Street law office.

Today is about the former families of Church Street South.

After several years of litigation, we were very pleased that we could come together with Attorney Rosen as well as Mediator and Retired Judge Jonathan Silbert to reach a resolution which placed hte needs of the families above everything else.

We were all faced with a very difficult situation after the historic winter of 2015, and I am proud of the way Northland responded to secure safe, quality, long-term housing for the Church Street South (CSS) families. This was the result of an extraordinary partnership between New Haven’s Livable City Initiative (LCI), Elm City Communities, HUD, and Northland. Now those families are being compensated for that disruption and distress.

Looking ahead, I am hopeful that we can develop the CSS property into a highly-sustainable, transit-oriented development that will include affordable housing and that will finally weave Union Station into downtown; a reality the city has desired for over 100 years.

As part of the settlement, the families will have specified preferential rights on affordable apartments included in such a development. That was very important to us because it will allow some of the former residents to return home if they wish.

Once again, we are grateful for the assistance of our mediator and we hope that this agreement will contribute to helping the former Church Street South families move forward in a positive way.

Previous coverage of Church Street South:

• $18M Church St. South Settlement Reached
• From Ashes Of Disaster, A Challenge Arises
• Judge Weighs Class Action Argument
• Judge Spares Church Street South’s Shell Corporations
• Spin Doctor Hired To Rebut Asthma Link
• Northland: Disaster Not Our Fault
• Church Street South Taxes Cut 20%
• The Tear-Down Begins
• Finally Empty, Church Street South Ready To Disappear
• Northland’s Insurer Sues To Stop Paying
•Who Broke Church Street South?
•Amid Destruction, Last Tenant Holds On
• Survey: 48% Of Complex’s Kids Had Asthma
• Families Relocated After Ceiling Collapses
• Housing Disaster Spawns 4 Lawsuits
• 20 Last Families Urged To Move Out
• Church St. South Refugees Fight Back
• Church St. South Transfers 82 Section 8 Units
• Tenants Seek A Ticket Back Home
• City Teams With Northland To Rebuild
• Church Street South Tenants’ Tickets Have Arrived
• Church Street South Demolition Begins
• This Time, Harp Gets HUD Face Time
• Nightmare In 74B
• Surprise! Now HUD Flunks Church St. South
• Church St. South Tenants Get A Choice
• Home-For-Xmas? Not Happening
• Now It’s Christmas, Not Thanksgiving
• Pols Enlist In Church Street South Fight
• Raze? Preserve? Or Renew?
• Church Street South Has A Suitor
• Northland Faces Class-Action Lawsuit On Church Street South
• First Attempt To Help Tenants Shuts Down
• Few Details For Left-Behind Tenants
• HUD: Help’s Here. Details To Follow
• Mixed Signals For Church Street South Families
• Church St. South Families Displaced A 2nd Time — For Yale Family Weekend
• Church Street South Getting Cleared Out
• 200 Apartments Identified For Church Street South Families
• Northland Asks Housing Authority For Help
• Welcome Home
• Shoddy Repairs Raise Alarm — & Northland Offer
• Northland Gets Default Order — & A New Offer
• HUD, Pike Step In
• Northland Ordered To Fix Another 17 Roofs
• Church Street South Evacuees Crammed In Hotel
• Church Street South Endgame: Raze, Rebuild
• Harp Blasts Northland, HUD
• Flooding Plagues Once-Condemned Apartment
• Church Street South Hit With 30 New Orders
• Complaints Mount Against Church Street South
• City Cracks Down On Church Street South, Again
• Complex Flunks Fed Inspection, Rakes In Fed $$
• Welcome Home — To Frozen Pipes
• City Spotted Deadly Dangers; Feds Gave OK
• No One Called 911 | ​“Hero” Didn’t Hesitate
• ​“New” Church Street South Goes Nowhere Fast
• Church Street South Tenants Organize