After an electrical fire in an East Cleveland apartment, hundreds of people were displaced, tenants accuse the owner of the building | Cleveland News | Cleveland

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Mark Oprea

Ivan Lewis, 53, was among hundreds of tenants displaced Monday after an electrical fire at Terrace Towers in East Cleveland.

Hundreds of East Clevelanders were displaced on Monday afternoon after an electrical fire ripped through Terrace Towers apartments. East Cleveland Fire Department officials confirmed Monday that the fire was started during electrical maintenance.

At around 3 p.m., a day before fireworks covered the Cleveland skyline, nearly 300 Terrace Tower tenants were evacuated over a four-hour period, most with their clothes on their backs and holding some personal items.

On Wednesday, around 100 of them were staying in an emergency shelter organized by the Salvation Army, where displaced tenants had access to clean clothes, a cot, clean bathrooms and some meals. .

“They came out without underwear or soaps or anything,” Chaka Watch, the captain of the 15 American Red Cross officers assigned to the Salvation Army, told Scene as he gave orders. . “So we were able to provide some of these things, clothing, temporary clothing and all that. We were able to do that.”

Many tenants in Terrace, which housed low-income Section 8 tenants and others with health issues, suggest the cause of Monday’s fire could be traced to mismanagement by landlords and property managers of the building.

According to the tenants, RHM Real Estate, the building’s current owners, orchestrated a Terrace remodel that was completed in 2021, which included painting and mass redevelopment of the building. Part of the cost of the renovation was paid for, they said, by a housing grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“They didn’t do what was supposed to be done with the money,” former tenant and community activist Breyana Porter told Scene in a text message. Porter said that from November 2019 to February 2020, a section of Terrace went without hot water. “The conditions in which the tenants lived during the renovation were deplorable.”

Ivan Lewis, 53, a caretaker who lived in Terrace for six years until Monday, sat on a bed surrounded by various items, his portable DVD player, his phone, a bag of last-minute clothes while helping some of his neighbors, some of whom have mental health issues.

Like most of its neighbors, Terrace was a place of refuge for Lewis, who sought refuge there after living homeless for years following the death of his father from lung cancer. Despite knowing he’s lucky to have shirts and jackets to show off, Lewis said he was trying to stay despite being homeless again.

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Mark Oprea

An American Red Cross officer orchestrates care duties Wednesday at the Salvation Army in East Cleveland.

“I don’t want to get upset about something I have no control over,” Lewis said, sitting on his bed at the Salvation Army. “Being angry does nothing but give you health problems.”

As for RHM, Lewis took a similar stance to his neighbors: the power outage could have been avoided with the proper renovations.

“Everything is unorganized ‘there,’ Lewis said. “Everything was unorganized. Period.”

John Joyce and his son, John Joyce, Jr., owners of RHM Real Estate, have owned Terrace Towers since approximately 2012. A property manager, contacted by Scene on Wednesday, declined to comment on the fire or its causes. “You are in the wrong department,” they said. “There’s nothing I can help you with.”

A call to the East Cleveland Fire Department was also not returned. East Cleveland Police Chief Brian Gerhard declined to comment.

Wednesday afternoon, as the Red Cross and Salvation Army prepared to accommodate the 100 tenants in a larger space with many bathrooms on the Case Western campus, Ruth Lillard, Felicia Clark and Tamara Nelson sat on their cots texting, making calls, as Red Cross workers tried to calm the chaos.

Ruth Lillard, who had just called relative Breyana Porter for updates and advice, told Scene she wasn’t surprised Monday’s fire happened. In the past four years she had lived in Terrace, Lillard said she had experienced a wide range of inconveniences: elevators breaking down “every two weeks”, managers cycling in and out like waiters in a restaurant.

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Mark Oprea

Felicia Clark (left) and Tamara Nelson (right) were neighbors of Terrace Towers and lived in the building for 22 years.

As for the recent renovation: “Oh, they fixed it,” Lillard said sarcastically. “They put a piece of chewing gum on it.”

“They put a bandage on it,” Nelson added.

“They did it halfway, and still [some of] it has never been painted. They never hooked up some wires,” Lillard said.

For Nelson, 41, who has lived on the 11th floor of Terrace for six years, her main question is how long Monday’s evacuation will last, in particular, she said, knowing that many tenants are not “valid like me”. She remembers knocking on neighbors’ doors as smoke poured down the hallway.

Firefighters said Terrace will remain closed until necessary repairs are completed, which they say will take about two weeks. Despite the idea of ​​returning home, Nelson said the trauma of Monday’s evacuation left her with emotional scars.

“It’s really depressing, it’s really sad,” Nelson said, his voice cracking. “We didn’t have a vacation. Most of us lost everything.”

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