COLUMBUS, Ohio — The clock is ticking for residents of the Colonial Village apartments to find a new place to live. The complex gave remaining residents a notice they would need to move out by the end of December.
“Here we are at Christmas time. Nobody can decorate. Nobody can have a Christmas,” said Char Copan, a 10-year resident of Colonial Village. “I just don't understand how I'm going to find a place, come up with the deposits and everything else, and move within the next two and a half weeks.”
Colonial Village has been under the microscope of the City of Columbus for some time.
It was declared a public nuisance back in 2021 and fell into receivership last year. In early November, city crews found more than 800 people living in condemned buildings on the property.
Copan said her building and several others were still in livable condition and hers was taken care of. She feels that everyone being pushed out in less than a month is unfair and those still in livable units should be allowed more time.
“The ones that don't have electric and gas, I feel sorry they had to live that way. Help them sooner, but us that have this and pay our bills, give us some time. Every place I've contacted, they have waiting lists,” she said.
She said she doesn’t know where she will go come January. She’s been calling city offices and other services for help in relocating, but nothing has panned out yet for her.
“I'm 65 years old and I don't know how I'm going to pack everything. I'm just getting over pancreatic cancer. I don't know how I'm going to pack everything, find everything, unload it. I don't know how I'm going to do it without costing me hundreds and hundreds of dollars. I'm not expecting it for free, it's just a bad time,” she said.
Columbus City Council is moving $600,000 from the city’s general fund to the city’s development department and Community Shelter Board to help cover some of the costs of temporary housing, food and other expenses of some of the Colonial Village residents. This money would help put some 300 households into hotels for at least a couple months.
Other residents who spoke with 10TV off camera said the heating and ovens didn’t work in their units. They also had no plan for where they would go after the Dec. 31, 2023 deadline.