Residents of the 5050 building who had been evicted for several months finally received the keys to return to their apartments in what they say was an intense and costly battle to return to their homes.
“This is the key to my apartment. I think it looks beautiful, as I have always had it, “said one of the neighbors after learning that she will be able to” return to her apartment after a year and a half.
And although she knows that there is still a lot to do, she says that she has finally returned to her space, for which she reveals that she feels “very content, very happy.”
Virginia does not forget that night of August 9, 2021, when she and the dozens of families in building 5050 had to evacuate. A month earlier, inspectors from the city of Miami had determined that the property was unsafe.
Virginia remembers: “I got very depressed, because I said: ‘well, this will be a week or fifteen days. And I took only the most necessary, but I saw that this spread. I only took clothes, I left the furniture”.
Thus began a long battle for the 137 displaced families to return as quickly as possible.
Many residents like Nelly wondered what is being done? When are the works going to be finished? But other questions were added to these questions.
Denise Pérez, president of the association, acknowledges the “anguish of all the owners of not being able to return. And have duplicate expenses.”
Nearly a year later, a new company was hired to prevent demolition and speed up work.
Jackeline Díaz, from the company that manages building 5050, acknowledges that “no arrangement had been made. In June or July it all started. We work very fast.”
But that speed was not enough for the owners to return. When they thought that repairing columns would be enough, other surprises appeared such as “plumbing, fire. We discovered that the fire pump had not been inspected since 2017,” Díaz acknowledges.
Finally this Saturday, most of the owners came for their keys.
“It is one of the battles fought, but we still have a war because here there are many things that are missing,” warns Denise Pérez, president of the association, although she adds that “much remains pending but nothing threatens the safety of the tenants … there is still work to be done paint the building Among other things”.