The Albuquerque City Council Wednesday night grilled Mayor Tim Keller’s office in light of the city asking some residents to move out of an apartment complex due to the building’s deterioration.
Residents living on the third floor of The Beach — a city-owned apartment complex — were encouraged to move out because of safety concerns with some run-down staircases.
Council President Brook Bassan applauded the city’s decision to replace the stairs instead of opting for a “Band-Aid” fix, but asked Joseph Montoya, deputy director of the Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness why there was a delay in addressing safety concerns.
Montoya said the city has been keeping up with maintenance management but the unique design of the apartment complex has created some challenges.
“The particular design has made it somewhat difficult to manage the project…which is why we’re actually going toward replacing the stairways now,” Montoya said. “They are at the end of their design life, and so really the only recourse is to replace them.”
Residents will receive one month of free rent, $2,000 in financial assistance, relocation options and moving services. Montoya said residents will be given the first priority to return to the apartments once the stairs are replaced.
Bassan didn’t buy the design excuse though.
“I definitely hope that there’s some really in-advance communication for the remediation or replacement of these stairs and I will say that even if it’s difficult to find all the stairs or because of the layout of the building, that shouldn’t be an excuse for some of what just occurred,” Bassan said. “I absolutely hope that it never happens again in the future, especially with the city property.”
Bassan continued to press Montoya about the city’s plans to prevent this from happening in the future.
“We have instituted a comprehensive formal capital needs assessment strategy for all our units, so we will have an ongoing maintenance system in place,” Montoya said. “This was done informally previously, but now we’re going to actually have it formally.”
Councilor Nichole Rogers said her biggest concern was the apartment complex not having an elevator for residents, which is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines outlined in the contract with the property’s management company.
“According to our contract, they must adhere to all ADA compliance,” Rogers said. “That worries me that if there are folks there that are disabled, they can’t use the stairs and we don’t have an elevator, what are we doing? We’re in violation of our own contract.”
Connor Woods, spokesperson for HHH, told City Desk ABQ that the residents were given a 90-day notice to move out but it is unclear when they can return.
“We are in the process of determining how long work will take based on a structural analysis,” Woods said.
The Beach apartment complex is also one of the eight low-income properties that will get energy-efficient upgrades such as new weatherstripping, water heaters, furnaces, smart thermostats and lighting. Read more about the public housing improvements here.
Nonprofit journalism like this depends on readers like you. This story is supported by City Desk ABQ, a nonprofit newsroom project of Citizen Media Group supporting news and politics coverage that inspires readers to participate in local democracy. Become a supporter to keep City Desk free and support nonprofit, independent journalists covering politics and policy f0r New Mexico newsrooms.