Locked out for more than a week, Merced tenants given chance to collect their stuff

The city of Merced and the owner of a shuttered apartment building are working together to allow tenants to get their belongings, they say.

The 12 units in the 2600 block of Highway 59 were deemed uninhabitable for safety reasons late last month, according to the city’s code enforcement. Several tenants told the Sun-Star they were not able to get many of their belongings out before they were forced to leave.

The city has since been working with tenants to get the belongings from the buildings, according to Mike Conway, a spokesman for the city.

Tenants on June 22 were given 24 hours to leave, according to Bal Samra, whose family owns the property. Samra said many of the tenants were given a chance Sunday to remove their belongings.

City code enforcement last month marked every door with a letter, which said the “complex is deemed substandard and poses an immediate threat to the health and safety of the occupants.”

In the displaced group were children, seniors and adults, including two pregnant women, advocates said. Local nonprofits helped to find temporary housing for many of them.

Merced building inspectors found the stairwells and ceilings of the complex to have “major structural issues” and to be too damaged to allow the tenants to stay, according to Conway. They also found water damage and pests.

Samra has said he’s working with experts to determine what about the buildings needs to be repaired.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Locked out for more than a week, Merced tenants given chance to collect their stuff."