HARTFORD, Conn. — Tenants in Hartford demanded answers from the city's mayor Wednesday after being displaced in August and put into temporary homes in hotels.
“What happens after the 10th of December if we are not able to be in a proper apartment?” displaced Concord Hills tenant Fidelis Best wondered. “Are we going to be kicked out in the cold with our suitcases dragging behind us?”
Dave Richardson, a displaced tenant, said that Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam "promised that he would take care of the tenants and that was one of the things he promised me personally and he has fallen short of it."
“His words are nothing but deception, saying he’s a liar is kind of strong but he hasn’t been speaking the truth for a very long time," Richardson said.
Displaced Hartford renters said their questions deserve answers.
It’s been three months since dozens were forced out of their homes because of an electrical fire in August at the Concord Hill Apartments.
The renters and the tenants union claim the landlord, Greyhill, simply doesn’t care.
“They have been failing to do the repairs in the building that need to be done in order for people to go back home and move back in,” Luke Melonakos-Harrison, vice president of the CT Tenants Union said. “Meanwhile, tenants came home on this weekend to their hotel rooms. Their temporary housing accommodations with notices from the city that they have to be out by a hard deadline of Dec. 8.”
Arulampalam said he has worked tirelessly on this issue and even helped identify new apartments for the tenants.
“It was never our intention to keep people in temporary hotel housing indefinitely,” Arulampalam said. “We always wanted to move people into permanent housing and there’s a number of options that are the same price point that the Sherbrook Apartments were at all over our city.”
People said those apartments aren’t up-to-code and they aren’t in safe neighborhoods.
“The worst neighborhoods, it’s unsafe for kids, women and disabled people to live in because you can’t be living in a crime infested neighborhood,” Richardson said. “Not even the police want to patrol so, that tells you a lot about the neighborhood he’s trying to get us to go to.”
They claimed the mayor isn’t doing enough, but the mayor said the opposite.
“We’re going after the Greyhill Group,” Arulampalam said. “They clearly have been dragging their feet, we found out they have been receiving insurance payments. They should have been making the payments, they should have been making the repairs to the property and we aren’t going to release our lien on the property.”
Tenants are now calling on Gov. Ned Lamont to intervene in the matter because they believe the mayor isn’t doing nearly enough.
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.