Families unsure of future after vacating condemned buildings in Plainfield
PLAINFIELD, New Jersey (WABC) -- Several apartment buildings in Plainfield, New Jersey were condemned this week over a series of issues. Tenants were told to leave their homes with no notice, many living through gas leaks in hazardous conditions.
The deadline to move out has passed, but for many, leaving their homes is not easy. Some are not sure they even want to move.
"My son Jeremy is scared to go back home," said Maria Quintaro.
Quintaro says she started crying when they had to go in early Friday to get clothes. The family is currently living in a hotel but must leave there in five days.
She says she doesn't know what the family will do after that. School starts for her children soon, and she does not know where they will be or how they will get to school every day.
The city and Union County set up a resource center on Friday at the Salvation Army to set families up with the right agencies to provide help, but others are pitching in too.
Joshua Muhammad lives in Plainfield and before Thursday did not know anyone who lived in the building. He met one of the displaced families who did not agave anyone to help them, so Muhammad and his friends rented a U-Haul and are moving the family themselves.
The building owner says he had no idea the apartments were in such disrepair. He released a statement.
"The management company was under strict instruction to maintain the building in pristine condition and had been paid hundred's of thousands of dollars in management fees for responsive and/or preventative maintenance for that purpose," Cyclone West LLC said in a statement.
The landlords have been identified as Charles Aryeh and Aaron Eichron who have owned six residential buildings in Plainfield. Four have already been condemned.
"I think that is so incredibly ridiculous that the landlord would try to lay blame at the feet of a management company, that quite simply seems to not exist," Mapp said. "No one knows who this management company is."
The owner has yet to name the management company hired for the job.
Meanwhile, the mayor says the city has worked with one of the storage companies to provide free services to the tenants.
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