Residents living in a condemned apartment building in Aurora pleaded with city officials Thursday for more time to find new housing ahead of a move-out deadline looming early next week.
“We are humans. We are not animals,” said Emanuel Chabrier, 27, a renter for about three years. “This is not fair.”
On Wednesday morning, police notified tenants of 1568 Nome St. that the complex, which is run by CBZ Management, will soon be shuttered because of its history of unaddressed code violations, including rodent infestations and sewage backups. More than 85 families — many of them Venezuelan migrants — are affected by the building condemnation.
Placards affixed to the front doors of each of the 95 apartments notify tenants of the order to vacate. In bold red font, they say: “Danger, no trespassing.”
Occupants have until 7 a.m. Tuesday — a total of six days after the official notification — to figure out alternatives and move out.
A group of about 30 residents and advocates gathered for a news conference on Thursday afternoon in the courtyard at Fitzsimons Place. They called on Aurora City Manager Jason Batchelor to allow two months longer to find new homes.
The East Colfax Community Collective and Housekeys Action Network Denver are also pushing the city to provide tenants with housing vouchers, rental assistance for the first month of their new leases and money for security deposits.
Aurora city spokesperson Ryan Luby said the city was working to find housing resources for tenants. It plans to cover the costs of security deposits for those affected by the condemnation and pay the sums directly to their new landlords, he said.
Officials will recover that money from the owners of Fitzsimons Place later, he added.
Earlier this week CBZ representatives told The Denver Post that managers had not visited the complex in weeks because of security concerns, including problems caused in the complex by a transnational Venezuelan gang. But city officials called that a diversion from longstanding safety and health problems.
In the courtyard, residents spoke in English and Spanish about the challenges they’ve faced in trying to secure housing quickly, including missing days of work.
Some children held white balloons and signs reading “Aurora renters demand healthy homes” and “We need a response from the company,” while others returning home from school clambered up stairwells, lugging backpacks.
“You have over 66 children in this building alone,” said V Reeves, an organizer with Housekeys Action Network. “These are good people, they’re deserving people and they have rights as paying tenants.”
Luby said city management was bound by municipal code on the abatement process. The code says the city “shall permit not more than 15 days” for occupants to vacate a building once notice is officially given that it’s deemed unsafe for human habitation.
“It would be irresponsible for the city to allow 1568 Nome St. to remain occupied for another two months in its current state,” Luby wrote in a statement. “The building owners and managers made the decision to effectively abandon their paying tenants, and this is the unfortunate consequence.”
As for whether the city could extend the six-day notice to the maximum allowed by code, Luby said water service “is scheduled for shutoff on the posted date.”
But that is exactly what residents are hoping for: a delay. On Thursday, their voices echoed in the courtyard as they chanted, “Queremos más tiempo” — or, in English, “We want more time.”
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