NATIONAL CITY, Calif. — Update:
Highland View Apartments sent CBS 8 a statement that said the City is paying all tenants two months worth of rent in reimbursement benefits. The statement also said tenants are not being evicted, but the City red-tagged the building because it is unsafe to live in after the flooding.
The statement also said the building repairs are expected to take several months.
Owners of the complex are not receiving insurance or government benefits and are voluntarily paying for tenants to stay at hotels out of their own pockets, even though it is not required by the City Attorney, the statement reads.
Original story:
People living at the Highland View Apartments are still cleaning up their homes from the damage left by the Jan. 22 storm in San Diego County. Now, some of the tenants are worried about what comes next.
“Come to find out just yesterday they were handing out papers that we have 10 days to move out,” Highland View Tenant Johnatan Tiscareno said.
A notice from National City to the complex owner states that people living at Highland View must be relocated because the flood damage is extensive and needs immediate repairs. However, tenants got their own notice from the Highland View Apartments saying it can only provide relocation housing through the rest of January and that their leases will be terminated.
“We’re like in shock, like what do we do! Nobody is guiding us, nobody is helping us so we're just like completely lost in this maze that we cant find our way out,” Highland View tenant Jocelyn Lopez said.
The notice advises residents to look for somewhere else to live or start paying for their own hotel costs beginning Feb. 1.
“So it's like we don't even have a choice now like we have 10 days to move out they are saying the city did like an inspection or I'm not sure if its true or if their blaming it on the city,” Tiscareno said.
Not knowing what to do, people called in National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez for help.
“What we should not be okay with is having these attempts to remove people from communities that they've lived in for a very long time," he said. "It is morally wrong, it is ethically wrong, it it should not be happening at this moment and its infuriating that somebody even believes they can get away with that right now."
CBS 8 called the property management office but they are closed for the weekend.
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