CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) -
Chambersburg is working to make the downtown a safer place for residents to live. Part of that means condemning unsafe buildings, but some tenants now don't have a place to live.
Residents who live at 262 East Queen Street just got eviction notices telling them they have 72 hours to get out. Kathryn Neumann and her family lives in one of the apartments in the building. She said 72 hours isn't enough time for her to find another home and move her children.
"My family and I are going to be homeless. We have nowhere to go," she said.
Juanita Florian also lives in the building. She said she has never been in a situation like this before in her life, and said the building has been in disrepair since she moved in last year.
"I had to clean up the whole place, paint, and there were so many roaches," she said.
Florian and Neumann both said their landlord never responded to their concerns.
"He doesn't fix anything, the bugs, rodents," Neumann said.
Things have gotten so bad, the borough is condemning the building. Angela Palmer lives down the street, has the same landlord, and also got an eviction notice. She, too, said she does not have a place to go.
"We are trying to find help, immediate help. We need places to go, we have children, we need roofs over our heads," she said.
abc27 News spoke with the landlord, Anwar Bajwar. He referred us to the borough. Borough officials said this is all about making sure residences are safe, and that eviction notices are only coming after several attempts with the landlord to correct the code violations.
Sam Wiser, the borough solicitor, said the borough does not want to victimize the residents, but they cannot allow them to live in unsafe buildings.
"This has a potential for displacing people and unfortunately those people are often the victims of the landlord's inaction after repeated attempts to remedy situations," he said.
Wiser said residents who are being evicted should call the borough. He said the borough has been in touch with the Salvation Army, and those who need immediate shelter can stay there.
