Several residents of the Rabbi Shulman public housing apartment complex near downtown South Bend are still waiting to be relocated after the site was found to be unsafe last year.
Residents were originally told they had to move out in November, after the housing authority said gas line issues made the building unsafe.
Tenants were officially given their 60-day notice on Jan. 4, meaning they have until March 8 to move out.
At the housing authority's Board of Commissioners meeting on Jan. 26, Public Housing Director Karl Nichols said the relocation process is going “steadily,” but not as quickly as housing officials would like.
He said all residents who requested a federal housing voucher have been granted one, and the housing authority has found public housing sites and other complexes willing to take in new residents. However, about 70 tenants still need to be relocated by that March 8 deadline.
“So that process is moving, it’s just not moving as quickly as we had anticipated,” Nichols said.
The future of the Rabbi Shulman building remains uncertain. In December, the board approved a contract to conduct a building inspection and assess what the housing authority might be able to do with it in the future.
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo.
If you appreciate this kind of journalism on your local NPR station, please support it by donating here.
