Raw sewage forces 300 tenants out of apartments

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Tenants of four buildings were forced out of their homes on Thursday morning.

Inspectors with the Allen County Building Department condemned the buildings after finding raw sewage in the basements after someone filed a complaint Wednesday against the apartments.

The four buildings were condemned, meaning tenants of those 96 units are without a place to live.

A representative with the building department said there are 300 people displaced. The deadline for tenants to leave was 3 p.m. Thursday. They were told to take their essentials because they won’t be available to go back in their apartment until it is fixed.

“At this point we assume that there’s a sanitary main either broken or clogged that’s preventing the sewage from getting out of the buildings,” said Allen County Building Commissioner David Fuller.

Management with the apartments said the goal is to have everything fixed and tenants back in the apartments by Friday.

“We were built in 1968 and there are a couple of problems with our buildings that we are addressing,” said Jenna Lockstadt, property manager at the Baldwin Creek Apartments.  “Unfortunately they weren’t addressed fast enough. So we’ve come to this.”

Fuller and some residents are less optimistic.

“In one of the buildings [raw sewage] was about ankle deep,” Fuller said. “There’s a number of corrections that need to be done. So, I would suggest that that would probably not happen tomorrow.”

Eunice Booker, who runs the production company One Divided by 4 Media, used her video camera to capture some of the damage. Her video showed mold in her apartment.

She said it first showed up a few days ago, and she took bleach to it with the hope of removing it completely. “I told maintenance about it and they told me what was going on across the grounds here,” Booker said. “Then on Monday it came back and today we have what’s going on.”

Tenants frantically tried to move out Thursday morning. Most people didn’t know where to go. One of the tenants said this would be the second time her family has been homeless.

“When I moved here, I was sleeping in my van. So now I’m back in my van again (and I) can’t take my furniture, can’t take my kids clothes. All I can take is wipes and milk because I have nowhere to put the clothes,” said tenant Candice Williams. “It sucks. I have six kids, two of them are disabled. Where am I supposed to go with six kids and two disabled kids?”

Nearly a dozen cop cars were at the apartments to assist officials with notifying tenants. Management said they have been threatened and residents have seen people almost get in fights.

On Thursday evening, the apartment complex was much more calm. Tenants who were utilizing assistance from the Fort Wayne Housing Authority signed vouchers that will place them in a different housing unit. The American Red Cross was at the complex preparing to move tenants to a local church.

“We’ve got to be setup to accommodate a big number of people, adults and children as well,” said Vince Robinson, the exteral communications manager at the American Red Cross in Fort Wayne.

Volunteers at the church said Thursday night that only one person had shown up so far. Considering that tenants’ vouchers were good for one, two, or three nights, the number is expected to grow by Friday afternoon.

“Some will be checking out Friday and then will be looking for a place to stay,” Robinson said. The Red Cross is not sure how many days it will need to keep the shelter open.

Booker was given a one-night voucher. She said she thought management would call her Friday to tell her what’s next.

Video from Booker also showed management addressing a group of tenants Thursday when the news broke. The manager can be heard saying, “We’ll do on-going visits with you for up to four months.”

The Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health assisted the Allen County Building Department with its inspection of the complex.

“The reason why this is such a huge public health concern is not only for those tenants who are living there with the possibility of contracting some sort of disease of bacteria or what have you, but then when they’re out in the general public, there’s that risk that they may transmit it to anyone,” said Megan Reust, director of communications for the Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health.