Tenants of Hartford Concord Hills Apartments say they’ve met with the mayor several times.
“We are not happy, we are not satisfied, we are not okay with how he approached the situation at all,” Destiny McKnight, tenant at Concord Hills Apartments, said.
Displaced Hartford tenants are continuing to seek justice from the city after roughly 45 days living in emergency housing.
“The living conditions have been horrible,” McKnight said.
Pictures from inside the various motels throughout greater Hartford reveal moldy ceilings, dirty apartments and even bugs. Roughly 100 people have been living in those conditions after a fire damaged their apartment back on Aug. 10.
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“We’re talking about folks with little kids, folks with disabilities and I was at one of the hotels last night and it was just unconscionable,” Hartford City Councilman Josh Michtom said.
On Monday night, Michtom said he would present a resolution at the Hartford City Council meeting to help meet the needs of the tenants.
“They want better temporary housing with kitchens which I think is the most emerging thing. They want assistance finding new housing if they want that rather than going back to the repaired housing and that includes social services, that includes money,” he said.
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Last week, the city provided a resource fair to help tenants with the relocation process.
“We want to get these folks into permanent housing and we’re offering tenants up to $4,000 a piece in support to get into permanent housing, security deposits, first month’s rent,” Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said.
But tenants like McKnight are still waiting on the mayor to help them move out of their motels and find better temporary housing.
“The main goal for us right now is to get all of those people out of those unsanitary, unsafe environments,” McKnight said.
She said the tenants plan on meeting outside Hartford City Hall on Tuesday afternoon should the status quo remain the same.
According to the mayor's office, the Concord Hills property manager is expected to waive all owed rent and give back security deposits.
The city said it will discuss plans for improved temporary housing at Monday night's city council meeting.
