HARTFORD, Conn. — Some tenants in Hartford had to spend Thanksgiving in hotels after an electrical fire at Concord Hills Apartments in August left over 100 people displaced.
“I tried to do the turkey over here [at Candlewood Suites] today,” Olga Amador, one of the displaced Concord Hills tenants said. “I bought an oven and I cooked my turkey…I couldn’t do the gravy, I couldn’t do the stuffing because no space.”
The fire from four months ago started in Amador’s Concord Hills unit.
“It didn’t happen because I was negligent,” Amador said. “I spoke to the last landlord about the electrical issues and I told them I was having issues. They ignored me, they promised they would check it out along with the stove, I never saw them.”
In all her 20 years at Concord Hills, she never thought something like this would happen.
Destiny McKnight, a single mom of a five-year-old boy, said she was happy this time last year, but that she is emotional this year.
Being displaced for this long has taken a toll on both McKnight's and Amador's mental health.
Amador used to work for Hartford, but she said an incident happened while on the job that she will never forget.
“I forgot one child in the bathroom for 45 minutes,” she said. "It never happened before and I didn’t recall if I counted the boy. I don’t remember, I still look inside myself and say, did I count? Did I look inside the bathroom?”
She said the stress of not being in her apartment, living in a temporary hotel, having to look for somewhere else to live and not receiving any mental health help has been hard.
The tenants' temporary housing currently ends on Dec. 10. After that, they will have to figure out their housing situation.
“This is a nightmare, and I know I have to start at 0, but I need more time,” Amador said.
McKnight said she's living day by day.
“I haven’t bought gifts yet because I don’t know if I’ll have the money,” she said. “I don’t have anything in that hotel room that screams out Christmas at all because this is not the most joyous time of the year for me.”
McKnight's son has Autism and needs a structure routine. She said living in the temporary hotels for four months and not being home is a problem for the both of them.
Other tenants voiced their concerns about how the city of Hartford has handled this situation and they said they are disappointed and dissatisfied with the mayor of Hartford and the City Council.
Many tenants worry what will happen once their temporary housing expires and if they will be homeless.
“I made an order on Amazon to get a heater for my car, I know it’s decent, in case I have to sleep in my car, I’m going to sleep in my car,” Amador said.
Sarah White, Connecticut Fair Housing staff attorney, wants the city to do right by the displaced tenants.
“Hartford is overwhelmingly a city of renters, more than 75% renters,” White said. “It’s a basic city service to look out for the needs of renters, to make sure people are safely and humanely relocated and temporary housed if something is condemned [...] and give tenants the assurance that they can continue to stay in their hotels if their homes are not ready by Dec. 10.”
Kaye Paddyfote is a multimedia journalist for FOX61 News. She can be reached at kpaddyfote@fox61.com. Follow her on X, Facebook and Instagram.
RELATED:
---
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Stream Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.