GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — People who live at the New Garden Place Apartments off of McPherson Street face an uphill battle to get the heat turned back on.
The city of Greensboro has stepped in, but their options are limited. City code inspectors found 17 violations on the property. They have been in contact with the owner and took civil action against him. The fines continue to rack up and are close to $27,000.
“The idea is to try to light the fire under the owner’s feet to try to get them to do the right thing at that time,” said Jarod LaRue, a field supervisor for the Greensboro Office of Code Compliance.
Normally once the city steps in, the majority of issues are resolved or at least have progress made within the first 60 days, but that doesn’t always happen.
“The really big issue with these … is these units are occupied, so that is why we can’t move forward. By the same token, we don’t want to say, ‘Hey you should just move out,’” LaRue said.
The housing stock is low, and affordable housing is even harder to come by, which means the city does not want to pursue further action to deem the property unlivable.