Some residents without heat voluntarily evacuate from The Ralston

A day after parts of The Ralston were declared unsafe due to a lack of heat and hot water, some residents packed up some bags and temporarily evacuated to the Motel 6 on Victory Drive, officials said late Thursday.

John Hudgison, director of the Inspections & Code Enforcement Department, hopes the temporary evacuation will give the New Jersey based owner, PF Ralston LLC, time to fix the heating system. Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, who spent hours at the 211 12th St. building during the day, said some of the problems with the hot water have been corrected.

Hudgison said the deadline is set for 9 a.m. Monday to get the heating system fixed, not patched. “The deadline is Monday for them to fix the system,” he said. “It’s not a patch. It is to get the system fixed. I’m not sure about the whole mechanical system. I know the hot water heater did burst. That was the lack of hot water. That has been fixed.”

Paul Brackin, 50, was among a handful of residents who boarded a bus at 4 p.m. for the trip to the motel. He had been keeping warm with three or four blankets. “It’s not a good thing,” he said before boarding a Metra bus.

Hudgison didn’t know how many of the 170 residents would be leaving the facility, because some were just getting off from work. He said it was suggested to residents to leave the building if they had no heat. The temperature in the hallways was 40 degrees, and some rooms were down to 50 to 55 degrees.

“We suggested for them to get out of there,” he said. “We give them the opportunity to go somewhere. It’s a voluntary evacuation.”

City officials and the mayor stepped up activity at the facility after after parts of the building were declared unsafe on Wednesday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which pays subsidies for low-income residents to stay at The Ralston, ordered parts of the building temporarily evacuated Wednesday after problems with heating and water.

Lacy Nichols was among those who refused to leave. “It’s 70 degrees in my room,” she said. Nichols said she has made use of a space heater to keep warm. Hudgison said officials made sure residents staying at the building had space heaters.

While Tomlinson was at the building, she said officials learned the owner hadn’t taken any steps to place the residents in alternative housing. Officials also learned the problem with the heating system is severe. Technicians are unsure if the unit can be repaired to deliver heat to all the individual units.

Tomlinson said the city started to put its own emergency plan in place after the owner couldn’t be reached. Plans were set up with American Red Cross, Salvation Army and other organizations to temporarily house residents at the Frank Chester Recreation Center.

Later in the afternoon, the owner finally secured the motel rooms for residents. “They have hotel rooms for two days,” the mayor said. “In that period of time, HUD is going to be using all of their authority at their disposal to try to resolve this situation. We will be monitoring it regularly.”

If needed, Tomlinson said the city will shut down the building but will have to come up with a long-term shelter for residents. “That will not be easy to do,” she said. “It’s a serious problem.”

Although the building is privately owned, Tomlinson said city buses will be used to transport residents to the motel location. The city will bill the owner for the services. “We will be keeping record of all public services in this emergency situation,” she said.

This story was originally published January 4, 2018 at 7:39 PM with the headline "Some residents without heat voluntarily evacuate from The Ralston."