Aurora shuts down 'unsafe' apartment building, leaving dozens of families homeless

Dozens of evicted immigrant families left their apartments with backpacks, rolling carts and garbage bags full of clothing Tuesday morning with no idea where they would spend the night.

Across the street from the Aspen Grove apartments, also called Fitzsimmons Place, Aurora Police Department officers shooed off anyone who tried to get back inside once they'd left.

Inside the complex, some angry residents shouted through megaphones: "We are not criminals! You can't kick us out if you don't have answers to where we are going to sleep tonight!!"

"We were never late on the rent," said Lorena Velaro, standing on the sidewalk in a pink sweatsuit and fluffy house shoes.

Her family immigrated to Denver from Venezuela a year ago and have survived on the money which came from a food delivery job her husband and brother worked. She said that the landlord "just left" a month ago "because he knew what was going to happen.

"He spent most of his time in the office," she said. "I feel sad and I feel deception."

A table set up by the East Colfax Community Connection got down to business assigning waves of families to a three-week hotel stay or a new apartment. In many cases, the city of Aurora is paying the deposit on the apartments since many of these families have lost the thousands of dollars they paid when they first moved in.

"It's been a little chaotic," said Daniela Hernandez, an advocacy worker with the center. "These are good, honest people. If they have a job, and they have the money, they will pay the rent."

As she spoke things got more chaotic when two women who had been hanging out asking questions ran off with an advocate worker's backpack and computer.

"I was trying to help them," said Joanna Auluv. "Please stop them!"

Already two of the men who were waiting for services tore off after the women, caught up with them two blocks away and returned them to Auluv, who was breathless. "My wallet was in there! I don't know how to thank you!"

Aurora police started at 8 a.m. knocking on doors to notify residents it was time to leave.

At about that time, Aurora Water trucks pulled up to shut off the water.

At 8:30 a.m., Xcel began the process of turning off the power.

By 8:45 a.m., most of the apartment complex stood empty, the doors labeled with color-coded tape as to whether units were empty or locked.

The city will board up and fence off the property, Nome Street and Colfax Avenue, in an urgent dispossession that, officials claimed, is for the safety of the residents. City officials have deemed the building uninhabitable after what they described as years of neglect by the property owner and management company.

The landlord has blamed the city’s decision to shut down the complex on a Venezuelan gang, saying it could not resume normal operations at the site because of an immediate threat of danger from the gang that staffers and residents face. The city rejected that claim.

“The building owners and managers made the decision to effectively abandon their paying tenants, and this is the unfortunate consequence,” Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby wrote previously in an email. “The risks of residents remaining in the building and being subjected to its rapidly deteriorating conditions are far too dire.”

The city also claimed that the landlord ignored hundreds of code violations and then left the renters to fend for themselves.

Luby said that the city expects to recover the costs of the abatement, security deposits and hotel rooms from the property owners of 1568 Nome St.

The landlord of Aspen Grove Apartments — a 98-unit complex operated by CBZ Management — has blamed the shoddy conditions on the presence of the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua, also known as TDA, saying it poses a danger to staff and residents.

“Because we care for the safety of our tenants, and other members of the community, what we will say is, that the issue of Tren de Aragua taking over properties and communities in Aurora means that we are not able to be present on this property, or any of our other properties in similar situations, also being impacted by gang presence,” a CBZ Management spokesperson said previously in an email to The Denver Gazette.

Anyone who has a problem with a landlord who does not follow through on returning deposits can contact Colorado Housing Connects at (844)926-6632, or go to their website at coloradohousingconnects@gmail.com, according to Destiny Bossert, government affairs manager for the Colorado Apartment Association and Apartment Association of Metro Denver.