Aliyya Swaby Photo
Tahis Caraballo returned to her condemned Church Street South apartment a few days ago and found clothes in her children’s bedrooms tossed on the floor and the beds propped on their sides.
What she didn’t find were any repairs done.
This is the latest twist in the saga following tenants of the beleaguered 301-unit subsidized apartment complex across from Union Station, a week before the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sends another round of inspectors to check up on landlord Northland Investment Corp.
The city has been gradually condemning mold-filled and water-soaked apartments, a tenth household moved to a local hotel after the latest condemnation coming on Tuesday. The city’s building official, Jim Turcio, has ordered 17 or 19 roofs replaced; he issued another 37 emergency repair orders this week. All sides to the controversy agree that the long-term game plan is to raze the development and rebuild a different kind of complex. But for now officials have to deal with a crisis involving where to put close to 300 families, many of whom live in dangerous conditions.
Caraballo has been staying at Premiere Suites with her seven kids since her apartment was condemned for flooding two weeks ago. She returned to 9A Christopher Green to replenish her family’s supply of clothing. She found everything in disarray.
At first, Caraballo thought her apartment had been broken into. But no items had been taken. She saw no sign of forced entry. The only people with keys belong to the Church Street South management, she said.
She said before she left Church Street South Aug. 25, she organized her house, cleaning every surface and folding all of her children’s clothing. She placed the blankets on top of the beds and closed the windows.
When she returned a few days ago, her windows were wide open and her thermostat was set to 90 degrees. In her daughter’s room, the clothing folded on top of the television was strewn on the floor.
Northland Chairman Lawrence Gottesdiener said late Wednesday that his company will look into the situation at Caraballo’s apartment. “As a company, that is not what we do,” he stated.
Caraballo’s attorney, Amy Marx of New Haven Legal Assistance, has sent cease and desist letters to stop Northland from letting contractors enter tenants’ apartments without their consent.
Northland’s Gottesdiener said last week that Northland will coordinate all repairs for Marx’s clients through legal aid.
Marx said she wants the landlord to also issue special notices before its employees enter to make inspections.
“We understand HUD will need fairly wide access to the units to do the re-inspection next week. Any and all other entrances by any employee or agent of Northland” requires compliance with state law, Marx said.
Gottesdiener also said last week that Northland will sign off on having 50 of its rental subsidies transferred as long-term vouchers to other landlords, since it is unclear how long repairs will take.
Caraballo and the other families moved to hotels will be at the top of the list for those vouchers. But Marx said it is unclear whether 50 will be enough. She said she keeps hearing from families “living in conditions are terrible as the worst apartments” that have already been condemned. “Our office knows of more tenant families in immediate need of relocation than the number asked for by Northland… Our office will need to take alternative action to get more than 50 vouchers.”
HUD Spokeswoman Rhonda Siciliano said HUD has not yet heard from Northland about the vouchers.
Desiree Brown contacted Marx when she heard what the lawyer was doing for others in the complex with leaking ceilings and walls. Her 16-year-old son Anthony Alston has chronic and severe asthma and goes to a clinic at Yale for biweekly injections to manage the disease.
Brown said inspectors from the Livable City Initiative (LCI), the city’s anti-blight agency, went to her apartment recently and issued a work order for Northland. She and her son sleep in bedrooms on the bottom floor, below a leaking porch.
She said management has painted over the mold when she has complained. Now in the bathroom, a white spot of mold is growing through the paint.
Brown’s bedroom, with the cracked ceiling above her bed.
They have lived there for 10 years, since her son was 3 years old. His asthma developed and began to worsen once the mold started to grow. Now her two daughters, who are 8 and 5 years old, sleep in her bedroom. The boiler, which is in its own closet inside of the girls’ shared bedroom, burst, causing water to leak down to her own bedroom.
Now that’s fixed, but mold is growing in the boiler room.
She wants to move to a hotel with her three children and is in the process of submitting a letter from her son’s doctor to the city.
Previous coverage of Church Street South:
• 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