Port Wentworth residents displaced after building deemed unlivable

PORT WENTWORTH, Ga. (WTOC) - Seven Port Wentworth residents have no place to go after the city deemed their building unlivable.

Residents came home May 6 to a notice on their doors saying they had to be out by June 1. With less than 30 days to find somewhere else to live and navigate moving, the tenants are frustrated.

“I have nowhere to go, so you’re just going to throw me out on the street, and I don’t think that’s fair,” said Michael Heyward, a tenant.

On May 1, Port Wentworth’s fire marshal, building inspector and code compliance officer inspected the building and found several issues, according to the removal notice tenants received. The notice said both city staff and the building owner agreed the building must be vacated.

Heyward has lived in his unit for over a year.

“June 1st that’s not enough time for anybody to get out, you’re giving me three weeks to get out, I have to get a U-Haul, find somebody to move me, I have to find a place to stay,” Heyward said.

The property manager said the reason for the failed inspection is not due to the units occupied, but because of roof damage to another part of the building sustained in a hurricane.

Cleo Williams has lived in his unit for seven years. He now needs to find housing for himself, his wife and their four children, with a grandchild on the way. Williams said the damage has been there for years and that his family has never felt unsafe.

“Because this building is not livable, so how is it not livable when people have been living here for the last seven, eight, nine years,” Williams said.

As of now, Heyward and the Williams family have to be out by noon Monday. If they aren’t, they will be removed by Port Wentworth police for trespassing. Both parties are unsure of where they will spend Monday night.

“It’s disrespectful, and it hurts that I have to move my whole family for reasons cause you don’t want to fix nothing in the building, when I pay you rent every month,” Williams said.

The tenants are hoping the city grants an extension to give them more time to find housing. WTOC is awaiting comment from the city.