COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Christmas Day dozens of people were forced to leave their Columbus apartment building due to a pipe that burst. Now residents are asking, what happens next?
Thirty-three people will be sleeping at the Dodge Park Recreation Center Monday night thanks to volunteer disaster relief efforts from the American Red Cross.
That includes a mother and her young son, who don't know where they will go next.
“We don't have really nothing but our car and the clothes we have on our back,” said Natasha Lewis.
Lewis came home from work on Christmas day to find out she couldn't go inside.
“Our clothes [are] in there, our food is in there, my dog's food is in there, our life is in that house,” she said.
As of Monday night, she hadn't heard any update on how soon they could return home to Latitude Five25. She said it's hard to explain it all to her 8-year-old son.
“Especially for the kids too you know they have feelings you know they don't know what's going on they just know they were taken from their home,” she said. “They don't know why.”
Lautina Reed was also displaced. She said they haven't had heat or water in their unit.
“We got a new owner and they don't want to do nothing about it,” she said.
The City of Columbus filed multiple motions earlier this year against the property owners for code violations and lack of security.
In October, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein said the owners were near a deal to sell the complex within the next three months.
Fast forward to Christmas Day, residents were evacuated abruptly.
Now The Red Cross is running an emergency shelter at the Dodge Park Recreation Center. On Monday, COTA buses transported some residents back to their units today to pick up necessary items -- like medication.
Displaced residents say something needs to be done and something needs to happen fast.
“I just want something to happen. We deserve to have a home and not just taken from us,” Lewis said.
Lewis is a working mom who says looking for other housing is tough.
“It was hard it took me 45 days just to find that home," she said.
A home she doesn't know when she can return to.
“It's been a long day. Just trying to take it day by day," Lewis said.
Our calls to Latitude Five25 have not been returned.