Worcester Councilor Probes City Response To Mill St. Collapse

WORCESTER, MA — A Worcester City Councilor is seeking answers from city leaders about the July response to a roof collapse at an apartment building that left more than 100 people homeless.

District 5 Councilor Etel Haxhiaj wants acting City Manager Eric Batista to provide a report detailing the city's plan for reacting to situations where apartment buildings have to be condemned after a disaster.

Haxhiaj wants information around seven specific areas including whose responsible for communicating with displaced residents, potential fines for the property owner and finding shelter for displaced people.

On July 15, a part of the roof of 267 Mill St. collapsed and punched a hole through five apartment units into the basement. Contractors were preparing to replace the roof, and piled construction materials in one portion of the roof right before the collapse, according to court records.

No one was injured in the collapse, but every resident was forced to leave the building. In the weeks since the collapse, Haxhiaj, the state Department of Housing and Community Development and the United Way of Central Massachusetts — and many other community members — have joined together to find shelter and legal assistance for the tenants.

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In a July 29 statement about the collapse, Batista said the city had been working with community service agencies to help the displaced tenants, including providing "acute care."

"Acute care services and resources include emergency shelter, physical and emotion medical care, food and clothing and other necessary resources such as family reunification," he said. "The city then works with partner agencies to ensure residual care, relief and wrap-around services for those effected by the incident, including suitable housing."

The former tenants have been housed in a downtown Worcester hotel for several weeks. They were facing a Monday deadline to move out, but state housing officials have agreed to pay for shelter until at least Aug. 25 as the tenants work to find new housing. As many as 80 tenants were still at the hotel as of Friday.

The 267 Mill St. property owner, meanwhile, has taken the tenants to court to expedite getting their belongings out of the building. Many of the tenants spent Thursday and Friday in court negotiating a way to have their belongings moved and put in storage, paid for by the landlord.

Haxhiaj's order will be up for discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting.