Residents displaced after Bari Manor fire say management and owners are doing little or nothing to help them.

One tenant had her June rent deducted from her bank account despite having no access to her damaged apartment. Affected residents say they are traumatized by the experience.

Croton-on-Hudson Fire Department

When a fire apparently caused by a faulty hot water heater tore through several Bari Manor Apartments on May 25, help for the 15 displaced residents came swiftly from several directions. The Croton-Harmon Fire Department and other emergency crews were quickly on the scene, the American Red Cross set up a station at the high school across the street, and Croton Trustee Nora Nicholson immediately launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the tenants (donations are up to $5,590 as we write.)

And early in June, leaders of the Lions Club presented checks to three of the residents most affected by the fire and the loss of their living spaces. Their situation was also reported in an update on the GoFundMe page:

3 Families that were displaced are now back living in their apartments.

3 Other Families are not longer able to inhabit their apartments due to fire damage.

• Apartment 50 where the fire started is a total loss. A mother and an adult daughter were living there together and are currently looking for housing. They lost all of their belongings.

• Apartment 45 is also a total loss. A mother and 17 year old son are currently looking for housing. They lost all of their belongings.

• Apartment 46 is the least damaged but still not habitable. A mother and adult daughter are looking for temporary housing. They were able to salvage some of their belongings.

The Chronicle has now had a chance to talk to some of the displaced residents. The overall picture is that they are totally traumatized by the experience, moving from place to place, sometimes sleeping on couches—and getting little or no help from the Bari Manor management nor the owners of the apartment complex, United National Property Preservation Group (UNPPG.)

Indeed, in the case of one tenant who was paying her rent via a monthly bank deduction, UNPPG took the rent from her and has been unresponsive to her efforts to get it back. (This tenant and one other resident we spoke to asked us not to use their names.) Nicholson described this situation as “terrible” in comments to the Chronicle.

“People have been very generous,” Nicholson told us, referring to the GoFundMe and other efforts to help the residents. But she expressed disappointment about the response of the owners and management.

“At a minimum, the landlord should be in regular communication with the displaced residents, they should be promptly returning calls and providing clear updates about the status of the building and any next steps. They should also cooperate fully with insurance claims, ensure the property is secure, and work to restore habitability as quickly as possible.”

Nicholson added that the owners and management had been cooperative about inspections and with ConEd about getting gas and electricity turned back on, but “we also want them to be supporting the displaced residents in what they need.”

Trustee Nora Nicholson

The fire began in Apartment 50 of the complex, and quickly spread to other units, including Apartment 45 just above it. The occupant of Apartment 45, who asked us not to use her name but readily agreed to indicate her apartment number, says “I pray that I can come back” when the damage is repaired. “It has affected me enormously, physically and emotionally.”

This tenant, who had been living at Bari Manor for the past three years with her son, says that the management representative, named Jelissa, had been “attentive” to her concerns in the past, but was now telling the displaced tenants that the company could do nothing for them unless they had renters insurance—which most did not have.

“No one told us that renter’s insurance was required,” she says. “There was nothing about it in the lease.” At one point Jelissa told her there was an apartment available in Kingston, about an hour and twenty minute’s drive north of Croton. But moving there would make her unable to get to work. The tenant asked the management to pay her room and board for at least a couple of weeks while she was trying to find other accommodations, “but they said they were not responsible for that.” The Lions Club eventually stepped up and provided the funds needed.

Left: Lions Club leaders present checks to displaced residents. Right: American Red Cross volunteers set up a station at the high school across from Bari Manor.

Another displaced tenant, named Nora, expressed both gratitude to those who have helped and disappointment in the management in a comment on the GoFundMe page. She told donors that her 17 year old son had decided not to attend his prom after the fire. “The tragedy that hit us turned our world upside down,” she wrote. “But because of the love and generosity from this community, we were able to find a safe place to rest.”

Some tenants at Bari Manor told us that there had been problems in other apartments with faulty hot water heaters, and that management had been alerted but little had been done. There had also been complaints about gas leaks, which were more quickly addressed. And last September, fire units were called to Bari Manor when a self-cleaning oven caught fire in one apartment.

As this story is posted, neither UNPPG management nor the owners have responded to the Chronicle’s repeated requests for comment via both telephone and email, although we will update this report if and when they do. A cell phone that tenants often use to communicate with Jelissa, the management representative, is now not accepting messages, responding that the “mailbox is full.”

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