Dear Editor:
The day of the fire was very emotional for all involved. For me seeing the fear in my tenants eyes was heart wrenching. I’m the type of person who will do all I can to try and help and make people feel better. But anyway, the night of the fire all five families were displaced from their homes due to the water, electric and gas being shut off from the entire building. Besides that the three units that did not suffer fire damage did suffer smoke damage so there was no way they were going to be able to stay in there. Two of the families chose to stay with friends and/or family members. The other three families did not have that option so the Groton Housing Authority housed them at the Residence Inn Marriott in Westford. Those three families stayed there for three nights. Unfortunately they didn’t have any vacancies after that so I had to find other places to put them. At this time the three families who were not burned out are back in their homes. One of the burned out families has been housed and the other family is still being housed by the Groton Housing Authority at an area motel until they secure permanent housing.
I put out a plea to my colleagues in the area to see if anyone had any vacancies. Two housing authorities responded but both were on the North Shore, which is too far for the families to relocate to. With the help of The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), I was able to get one of the burned out families housed at the Littleton Housing Authority. The other burned out family was issued a mobile MRVP certificate. Those are similar to Section 8 certificates but they are good only for use in the state of Massachusetts. Getting that MRVP certificate for that family was like hitting the lottery. DHCD does not give those out anymore. We are very grateful to DHCD for their help.
The three families that did not suffer fire damage but suffered smoke damage are now back in their homes. They were allowed back in their homes on Saturday morning 01/28/12. There was a process we had to go through in order to get occupancy permission from the Fire Chief and the Building Inspector. Once we met their approval, they signed off and allowed the tenants back in. Basically what we had to do was update the smoke detector/CO2 detectors and repair a small hole that the Fire Department needed to make in one of the units. Fire Chief Joe Bosselait and Building Inspector Mike Kinney were wonderful through the whole process. They explained the process step by step and made it clear to me and my maintenance man that they were at our disposal 24/7. Without their support and help we could not have had those families back in their units as fast as we did. We had ServPro out to clean the three units. They clean the units from ceiling to floors and also clean the duct work. I have been able to speak to two of the three families and they have said they are pleased with ServPro’s work. I still want to talk to the third family before I sign off on their work. My maintenance man, Steve Aquaviva, arranged to have new front doors and storm doors installed on these units since he felt they had been compromised when the Fire Department had to kick them in. The regular doors have been installed on these units and we are waiting for the storm doors to come in.
The tenants who were burned out have been slowly moving their salvageable belongings out of their units. Steve and I have made ourselves available to them so that they can complete this process. For the first few days after the fire, the Fire Department was here whenever they wanted to get in their units. After the Fire Department signed off on that, they allowed us to let the tenants into their units to get belongings. The two burned-out tenants were never told that they only had a certain amount of time to get their belongings out or they would be thrown out. At this time we don’t even know when rehab of these units will take place. They were told that the things they did not want to take could be left in the units and would be thrown out when rehab started.
And the person who left the comment that this has been a burden on these tenants may be correct, but what they don’t understand is that everyone who rents at the Groton Housing Authority or any other Housing Authority is told at lease up time that it is important for them to have renters insurance to help them in situations just like what we have recently experienced here. This is even mentioned in their lease which they sign and are given a copy of. We are like any other landlord where our insurance does not cover a tenant’s personal belongings.
The Groton Housing Authority is run solely on the rents we take in. Our average rent is about $275.00 per month. Some people pay less, some people pay more. But the point I’m trying to make is that we don’t have a bundle of money in reserves. We don’t get money from the state or the Town of Groton to run this housing authority. What we take in is paid out again on bills. I feel we have gone above and beyond with the help that we have given to and continue to give to our tenants.
Another thing I would like to mention is that we are very grateful to the Groton Fire Department for their quick response time to this fire. We believe that their quick response is what saved us from losing the entire 5 units. We also want to thank the residents of our elderly building for opening up their community room to the displaced tenants. They provided clothes, blankets, food, drinks and best of all emotional support to our family tenants.
Hopefully you can use some of this for an update. I kind of jumped around a bit as I was writing all this down, so if you have any questions, please feel free to call me. The best way to reach me would be by my cell phone since I work part time here in this office. Please don’t publish my cell phone number. Thanks!
Sincerely,
Lisa
Lisa Larrabee
Executive Director
Groton Housing Authority
19 Lowell Road
Groton, MA 01450
978-448-3962
(6 votes, average: 4.83 out of 5)
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