“Not knowing what’s going to be next, not knowing if we’re going to get apartments back, not knowing where we’re going to go from here,” said Concord Hills tenant Marisol Navarro.
Questions, in need of answers on Friday for numerous Hartford residents displaced by a fire back in August.
“We need the City of Hartford to step up and hold them accountable and we need assistance for all these tenants,” said Jonathan Melendez, whose mother is a tenant at Concord Hills.
For weeks, tenants of Hartford’s Concord Hills apartment complex have been living in various motels after a fire damaged their building on August 10.
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“People are having to live under the worst conditions. There’s rodents, there’s all kinds of stuff and we have families that have kids,” Navarro said.
Marisol Navarro is one of dozens that have not only been displaced, but have dealt with looting since leaving her home.
“Jewelry and electronics and stuff of that nature, even my grandmother’s ashes were stolen,” Melendez said.
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They’re now asking the City of Hartford for an investigation into their property manager, Greyhill Group. They're also asking for improved temporary housing and reimbursements for food and items stolen after the fire.
“We’re going to review our hotel options and see if that’s possible,” said Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam. “They asked for additional financial resources, we’re going to take a look at what is possible out of the City of Hartford.”
He said building inspectors have been at the original property every day since August 30 and that within two weeks, he hopes the vast majority of residents will be able to move back in.
“Every single day those landlords are accruing liens until they can fix back those units, and we hope that within the next couple weeks at least 40 or 50 of these units will come back online and a significant number of these tenants can move back into their original locations. We want to make sure these are done up to code,” he said.
After speaking with Mayor Arulampalam, Navarro said the meeting was good, but could have been better.
She said they want an answer from the city regarding new living conditions by next Tuesday.
NBC Connecticut contacted the property group but did not hear back.
