For the second time in three months, residents at an apartment complex in west suburban Aurora said they have been forced to find a new place to live.
Residents first temporarily evacuated Garfield Apartments in June after a fire.
Two months later, in August, the former YMCA building was condemned by the city following multiple code violations, including no working smoke detector signs outside the building.
One tenant said they were only given six days to find a place to go.
"It would be different if we were given until the end of September," displaced resident Ashley Cluchey said. "We’ll pay for the hotel stay or some type of accommodations. Fine, great. That gives us time to save money, find a place."
Another resident, Catuta Lathon, said she and her two young children have been living out of a hotel.
"There is no oven," Lathon said. "I've spent so much money buying food for my kids everyday, it’s ridiculous. The money I've been spending buying food I could have been saving for an apartment if they would have let me know it wasn't realistic for us to go back home."
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NBC 5 reached out to building management, and was told they offered $1,000 checks to residents and paid for hotel rooms. Management told residents that all of their belongings must be removed by the end of September.
"I really don't know what we're going to do, honestly," Lathon said.
The building's owners have a court hearing with the city during the week of Sept. 16th.
