City Kicks 53 Residents Out Of Residential Hotel In Foreclosure As Power Shutoff Creates Fire Hazard; At Least 24 Kids Among Those Getting The Boot

In St. Petersburg, Florida, the St. Petersburg Times reports:

• When the electricity in their residential hotel was turned off the morning before Thanksgiving, Mary Mix and her three children scraped together money to buy candles. During the next few nights — some of the most frigid this winter — they piled under blankets to stay warm.

• Then on Monday, city officials shuttered the hotel that Mix and more than a dozen other families, including at least 24 children, had called home. City officials said the lack of electricity [...] created a fire hazard. The hotel's water also was about to be shut off. Officials said the hotel owners owe $90,000 in back utility bills.

• A total of 53 people were forced out. They had to be gone by 5 p.m. Wednesday. Most of the last dozen or so families to leave were single mothers and their kids. Instead of focusing on preparing for the holidays, they were scrambling to find a new place to live.

For more, see No heat, no lights, then no home in St. Petersburg.

For other posts involving the problems tenants face in homes in foreclosure, go here, go here, go here, go here, go here, and go here. ThetaTenantRentSkimming