Modesto gives tenants 72 hours to leave condemned building

Modesto has given the remaining tenants living in a dilapidated, rat- and cockroach-infested apartment building 72 hours to leave before the city starts boarding up their apartments, but it will provide them with temporary lodging and other help.

City spokeswoman Heather Graves said Modesto is doing this because the building continues to deteriorate and is attracting squatters, vandals and other problems. “Our goal is to ensure those still living there are safe from the conditions of the building and the criminal element that is attracted to the building,” she said.

The two-story building at 624 Ninth St. consists of 27 studio apartments. Rent is $575 or $585 a month. Graves said that with the owner’s permission, Modesto boarded up seven vacant apartments Monday. The city placed the 72-hour notices to leave at the other apartments Tuesday morning.

The apartment building has rotting floors, water-damaged ceilings, rat and cockroach infestations, holes in walls and floors, faulty plumbing and electrical, mold and mildew, and other problems. It also generates a high number of police calls, with officers responding to arguments, fights, assaults, serving warrants and making security checks.

Steve Arakelian — who owns the property with his wife — said in early July that he did not have the money to make the repairs, was putting the building up for sale, and would remove the tenants. He declined to comment Tuesday.

One of the building’s on-site managers said in July that about 80 poor people lived in the building. Tenants said that included about a dozen children. Graves said there are no more children in the building. She said Child Protective Services relocated the three remaining families with children Friday to permanent housing. (Modesto is working with Stanislaus County and social service providers to find the tenants new homes, including those still in the building.)

She said 26 people living in 15 apartments remain in the building. She said Modesto will put them up in a motel for two weeks if they don’t have a place to go. She said the city will pay to store their belongings. Graves said five of the 26 people are in the process of moving into permanent housing.

Tenants who refuse to leave when the 72 hours are up Friday morning could be arrested, but Graves stressed that is not an outcome the city wants. “We don’t want to go that route,” she said. When asked whether the city could provide more than two weeks in a motel, Grave said: “It will depend on the circumstances. We are going to do our best to find them long-term solutions.”

Graves said Modesto will seek reimbursement from Arakelian for putting people up in a motel and their possessions in storage. Modesto also is providing relocation benefits to help tenants move into new homes after Arakelian did not. Modesto also will seek reimbursement from Arakelian for that. Graves said Modesto will board up the building and put fencing around it after all of the tenants are out.

The prospect of leaving by Friday was unnerving for Tonya Lopez, who said she has lived in the building for five years and receives $889 a month in disability. “As bad as this place is, it’s been my home,” she said. “It’s been my security.”

Lopez, 46, said she might stay with a family member or go to the motel. She said it’s been a struggle to find a new home she and her fiancé can afford. She said having an eviction on her record from five years ago does not help. But a minute later, Lopez said she believed ultimately something good would come from this and was grateful that the social service providers working with tenants connected her to services for her bipolar disorder.

This story was originally published August 29, 2017 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Modesto gives tenants 72 hours to leave condemned building."