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Despite hazards, it was home

The closure of an apartment complex because of fire code violations leaves about 40 families homeless.

By SHADI RAHIMI
Published May 4, 2006

[Times photo: John Pendygraft]

Rachelle Wilson, 19, and her 11-month-old, Kymani, move out of Chinook Apartments Wednesday. "What makes this so bad is I just paid my rent Monday for $575," says Wilson. "This is my first apartment ever."

ST. PETERSBURG - Her two-bedroom apartment was infested with roaches. It had a broken stove and was missing an air conditioner.

But at only $575 rent a month, "it was home," said Amanda Knight, a tenant of the Chinook Apartments. The building was shut down by city inspectors Tuesday because of fire code violations.

"I'd rather be home than out on the streets," said Knight, 18, as she applied for housing assistance at a temporary shelter on Wednesday. "It was wrong to leave us with nowhere to go."

The closure of the apartment building at 2400 15th St. S left about 40 families homeless. The city set up a shelter at a recreation center, where five families spent the night Tuesday. City and county officials were rushing Section 8 applications to assist the stranded families, hoping to clear background checks in days rather than weeks.

Angry residents on Wednesday blamed both the property owner, Scott W. Snow of Oldsmar, and the city.

The apartment property manager, Sharon Johnson, said in an interview that she had been working to resolve the fire code violations, including faulty wiring, the absence of working smoke detectors and too few fire extinguishers.

"We knew we had to fix things, and we were working on it," Johnson said. "I just don't understand why they did this. They took it too far."

But city inspectors said that when they came to check on her progress on Tuesday, they saw the problems had only worsened. They had no choice but to shut the building down, said Lt. Rick Feinberg of St. Petersburg Fire and Rescue.

"We don't typically like to close a business and put people on the street," he said. "But when we see problems as serious as it was, they left us with no alternative."

It was the third residential building in the past few years the city has shut down because of fire code violations, Feinberg said.

But the Chinook Apartments were in worse condition than the others, he said. "There is no way anyone in the city should live like this. It's a disgrace."

The complex has more than 20 unresolved building code violations, including a roach infestation, according to the city's code enforcement board.

Many of the residents were staying with friends, family members or at the temporary shelter at the Dwight H. Jones Neighborhood Center on Burlington Avenue.

"It's going to be rough for the next couple of months," said Julian Allen, 30, who had been renting a $550 two-bedroom with his pregnant girlfriend and three young children.

Snow bought the building in March 2005 under the name Pinellas Housing LLC for $2.2-million, according to Pinellas County property records. He had been given two weeks to make improvements on the code violations or the building would be emptied.

Snow did not return repeated calls on Wednesday, and Feinberg said Snow hung up on him in the middle of a telephone conversation.

Johnson said during an interview at her office that Snow is a caring man who often lets tenants slide when they are short on rent. Fewer than 10 residents paid rent in April, and even fewer had paid May's rent, she said.

"If my boss was this nasty person, why would he let them stay in here without paying rent?" Johnson asked.

On Wednesday morning, residents returned to collect their belongings. Later in the day, they stopped at the shelter to apply for a one-time $600 rental voucher and food stamps.

Volunteers served a lunch of beans, meatballs, rice, cooked cabbage and corn bread.

"I've never been in a situation like this," said Joanne Hargrove, 48, who slept on a cot at the center on Tuesday night with her two teenage daughters.

Tenants were given lists of available apartment buildings by the city Housing Authority, which does not provide emergency housing.

But many said that even if they are eligible for housing assistance, they cannot afford to live anywhere else. The cheapest two-bedroom on the apartment list was $645 and required a $285 deposit.

Residents at Chinook Apartments typically paid $575 a month in rent or $300 every two weeks.

"I'm clueless about what I'm going to do," said Stella Tsakalos, 39, who had lived in a $575 two-bedroom with her three young daughters. "I just hate telling my kids I don't know where we are going to live."

[Last modified May 4, 2006, 00:59:16]