More than 50 people living in a local building have filed a lawsuit against the city over bed bug infestations.
According to the claim, the infestation began two years ago at Centennial Place on Holly Street near City Hall.
As of July 2020 and to date, tenants of the building have begun reporting bed bug issues in their units to the office manager.
The office management team did not respond to tenants’ complaints until an increasing number of reports of the bug issue were received, according to the allegation.
“The office manager informed the tenants that the office management team would be distributing bug spray to the tenants. In the summer of 2020, office management ordered termite fumigation for units, which did not solve the problem.
Renters and pets have been bitten and plagued by the bed bugs through the present,” the claim reads.
Filing a lawsuit is the first step in filing a lawsuit. The city has 45 days to respond to the request.
But the city does not own or operate the building.
Union Station’s local nonprofit homelessness services provide case management and on-site services at the permanent support housing facility, which offers 142 single-occupancy (SRO) apartments for low-income adults.
The building is owned and operated by Abode Communities, not the city.
In 2010, work began on remodeling 144 single rooms at Centennial Place as part of a compromise that allowed the city to take ownership of the Desiderio Army Reserve Center.
In June 2007, HUD turned down the city’s proposal to build a nine-unit Habitat for Humanity bungalow farm, parking lots, and possibly an arts/environmental community building on the edge of Arroyo Seco after HUD said the project lacked the adequate amount of offsite homeless housing .
Then, in January 2010, the County Homeless Services Authority awarded Union Station a three-year, $750,000 grant to Centennial Place. The county’s community development commission awarded an additional $250,000 for improvements, and the city allocated $80,000 from state accessibility funds for a wheelchair lift.
A housing development and park were built on the site of the old barracks near the Colorado Street Bridge.
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