Residents to be forced out if apartment doesn’t get up to code

LONG VIEW, N.C. — People who run an apartment complex have 90 days to get it up to code or anyone who calls it home will have to move out.

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Code enforcement said that the roofs aren’t even safe.

One of the notices posted by code enforcement in Long View said that some apartments “are unfit” for people to live in and violate the “minimum housing standards” for the town.

Joyce Turgeon is not sure where she and her family will go if they are forced out of their home at the Hill Top Apartments. In the building where she lives, tenants said the roof is leaking and some of the units do not have heat.

“I have two kids and we are on based income,” Turgeon said. “We live check to check. We don’t have the money to go and get in another place this fast.”

The mother of five said the apartments are home for dozens of low-income families. The town of Long View confirmed two buildings now violate the code enforcement’s minimum housing standards and a meeting was held with both the apartment manager and maintenance worker about the violations.

“We lived upstairs and in my daughter’s room the whole ceiling was wet and it started to mold,” Turgeon said. They moved us down, but now we’re having these problems."

A spokesperson for Long View said the complex has 90 days to make the repairs. Families of loved ones aren’t sure the complex will spend the money.

“She’s got five kids. It’s gonna be hard,” said Diane Lewis, Turgeon’s aunt. “Things are are so high these days. How can you afford it?”

We did reach out to Millenia Housing in Ohio, which the town said owns the property, to find out if and when they plan on making repairs. So far we have not heard back.

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