Aliyya Swaby File Photo
Waterlogged, destroyed floor in unit condemned this week.
The federal government will decide next week whether to take some money away from the operators of the troubled Church Street South complex in order to have some tenants live elsewhere in town.
That word came Friday afternoon from regional federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) spokesperson Rhonda Siciliano.
Siciliano said HUD is aware of the new orders New Haven’s Livable City Initiative (LCI) has issued to Northland Investment Corp. to repair four and a half condemned apartments at the 301-unit subsidized apartment across from the train station. The Independent Friday obtained the last inspection reports and orders from LCI under a Freedom of Information Act request (detailed below in this story). LCI ordered Northland to move four families and single adult out of those apartments over the past two weeks and into temporary lodging at local hotels.
HUD sends Northland around $3 million a year in Section 8 subsidies to cover tenants’ rents.
“Early next week we expect a determination to be made as to whether or not we are going to move the Section 8 subsidy” for the apartments in question to other landlords’ properties in town, Siciliano said.
Meanwhile, HUD expects soon to reinspect Church Street South in light of complaints by tenants, more than 30 LCI and building department orders for clean-ups, and a request from legal-aid lawyers who identified dramatic discrepancies between federal and LCI reports on conditions at the complex, according to Siciliano.
She said no date has been set yet for the reinspections. She said the inspections will cover not just the condemned apartments, but a “broader” review of the complex.
An earlier version of this story follows:
City Issues New Condemnations, Orders
Aliyya Swaby File Photo
Waterlogged, destroyed floor in unit condemned this week.
Replace rotted gutters. Repair holes in the wall. Patch up the ceiling. Remove molded drywall. Remove water-damaged kitchen cabinets and sink counter top.
Northland Investment Corp., owner of Church Street South Apartments, received these orders from the city for four and a half apartments condemned in the complex over the last two weeks.
The newest reports for the city inspections became available Friday in response to a Freedom of Information request.
The city’s anti-blight agency, Livable City Initiative (LCI), and the Building Department have sent more than 30 work orders to Northland, pressuring it to repair roofs, mold and water leakage in a few of the complex’s buildings. Legal aid attorneys are pressuring the city to do a thorough inspection of all 301 apartments.
Northland has moved four families and one individual out of their condemned apartments and into nearby hotels.
Batista shows damp, rotting walls.
LCI condemned Pablo Batista’s apartment Tuesday and he is now staying at La Quinta Inn & Suites on Long Wharf. Batista has been living in a mold-infested apartment since 2010. His floors, ceilings and walls are damaged from continual water leakage.
The apartment “has mold and severe roof leaks throughout unit. The unit is not to be occupied until abatement and air test have been completed and re-inspected by this office, Livable City Initiative,” read the letters of condemnation LCI sent to Northland this week.
Northland has 21 days to bring in a “licensed contractor” to get rid of the mold in Batista’s apartment, according to the LCI work order, instead of bringing in its own handymen as it has done in the past. It also must fix the roof leaks throughout the apartment, replace molded walls, replace a defective baseboard heater cover in the dining room, replace molded drywall and replace a missing outlet cover.
In another apartment in the complex, LCI ordered Northland to fix water leakage, replace a refrigerator, remove mold in a bedroom, repair walls, stop water from leaking into the closet from a “broken roof drainpipe connection at ground level” and replace a sink that had rotted from water damage.
Northland could face penalties of $100 per day of violation for not complying with the city’s orders. It has promised to make repairs and brought roofing and electrical crews to the complex Thursday.
Some city officials — and now the chairman of Northland’s board — argue the only way to truly fix up the complex long term is to tear it down and start over. The chairman, Lawrence Gottesdiener, told the Independent Friday Northland has poured $4.6 million into repairs over the past seven years, and he promised the company will respond to city orders. Read more about that discussion here.
Previous coverage:
•Church Street South Endgame: Raze, Rebuild
• 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
• “New” Church Street South Goes Nowhere Fast
• Church Street South Tenants Organize