“There are very long waiting lists at most properties that offer affordable housing,” said Dan Vitek, one of the attorneys who filed the litigation. And the occupants had few options: The region’s affordable housing supply is extremely limited, the residents’ attorneys argued, and people needed more than a few weeks to find other homes.Ī Common Pleas Court judge allowed tenants more time to search for affordable apartments the remaining residents gradually moved out this spring. More than 100 of the 191 apartments at the Roosevelt were subsidized through a federal housing assistance program, according to the residents’ court filing. Water damage from the fire was so serious, management said, that the structure needed to be totally renovated.ĭays before that deadline, legal aid attorneys from Community Justice Project and Neighborhood Legal Services took building owner LWE Roosevelt LP and property manager NDC Real Estate Management LLC to court to delay the move-outs, and to allow low-income residents more time to find other housing. 13 - a three-week deadline to find new housing.
Some, like Zepp, now live in suburbs with fewer transit options and less access to services and Downtown amenities.ĩ0.5 WESA The closed entrance to the Roosevelt Building in Downtown Pittsburgh.įollowing the December fire, the building’s management told tenants they would have to leave by Jan. Many of the elderly residents do not drive or own cars. Months after the fire, many other former Roosevelt residents are also still adjusting to their new homes. “Sometimes you live in places that you've chosen… And then sometimes you find yourself having to accept places to live because that's what the situation calls for, right? So that's what happened,” he said. When he takes his walks to the Strip District now, he has to take a bus into town first. It’s a nice place, he says, though it doesn’t have the amenities or feel of where he used to live. It's unclear if former residents at the Roosevelt who lived in subsidized apartments will be able to return back after repairs are completed. He liked stepping out of his apartment and seeing the skyscrapers, and taking walks to the nearby Strip District.īut Zepp, along with more than 100 of his neighbors, was among those displaced after a December fire and a subsequent renovation. Like many former residents of the Roosevelt Building, Vincent Zepp enjoyed living in Downtown Pittsburgh.
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