Nearly a month after residents of an apartment building on South Main Street were abruptly evacuated by the Akron Fire Department amid safety concerns, displaced tenants were briefly allowed back inside on Monday morning to collect more of their possessions. They soon discovered their doors were open and valuables were missing.
“Every room was entered,” said tenant Christopher Lasley, who noticed that his belongings were scattered all over his room before discovering that his computer, jewelry and money were taken at some point in the last month.
He said after someone entered his room, cats entered through the open door and urinated on the clothes he came to pick up on Monday.
When the building was evacuated in February, tenants could only take what they could carry with them. Lasley and his wife, Raina Ward, are furious with the city for forcing them out without providing them shelter.
“My room was broken into,” said a dejected Christopher Pratt, who sat on a piece of furniture that had been dragged to the back parking lot from inside the building. Someone stole electronics, clothes, shoes and food, he said. “It was wide open, stuff is missing and it’s ridiculous.”
Residents of 1431 S. Main St. were forced to leave on Feb. 13, days after bricks from the front of the three-story building began tumbling down onto the sidewalk. The partial veneer collapse triggered visits from county building inspectors, who found additional serious structural issues and urged the Akron Fire Department to get everybody out as soon as possible.
According to city ordinances, residents will not legally be able to move back in until the landlord, Robert L. Johnson, hires licensed contractors to fix the structural issues and the building passes an inspection.
No repairs have been made yet — the landlord’s attorney said they are waiting on their insurance company to decide if it will cover it — keeping the building’s tenants in limbo as they try to find stable housing. Many tenants do not have enough money to move elsewhere and many tenants have serious criminal convictions that make it even more difficult.
Gary Bolyard drove his Jeep to the building to help his brother William move the rest of his belongings from his car. Gary and their sister “got some money together” to get William — convicted of sex offenses and recently unemployed — settled into a room in a house elsewhere.
“They’re an at-risk group to begin with,” Gary Bolyard said. “I don’t know about anyone else, but my brother spent some time in jail and when he got out, getting a job and a place to stay was almost impossible. Nobody wants to rent to you and nobody wants to hire you.”
Pratt, 30, said he had been homeless after he was forced to leave the apartment but was recently able to find a room to rent after his Social Security check came in. He said he has no money for the rest of the month, though.
“I was literally sleeping on the streets,” Pratt said about his time after Feb. 13. “The side of train tracks, abandoned buildings, warming stations – it’s rough.”
