CAPE CHARLES, Va. — Close to 20 people are now without a home on the Eastern Shore after their apartments were condemned on Thursday.
"Unsafe or unfit for habitation" is what it now says on the front doors of many homes at the Seabreeze apartments, a section 8 complex in Cape Charles.
"It's like you know I came home and everything is fine and then in two hours my whole world just collapsed and turned upside down," Nioaka Marshall, a resident, said. "I'm in limbo"
Marshal said on Wednesday she received a notice that an inspection was being done on Feb. 8 by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development and Cape Charles.
She said when she returned to her apartment Thursday night, she received another letter stating for their own safety and well being it is necessary that you are temporarily relocated immediately.
"They gave us two hours to be out and said that the building were condemned and that we had to get out, and then they put us up in a motel for four days," Marshall said.
In the notice, the management group of the property, Greenbrier Management, told residents it will be paying for a hotel room and suspend rent payments until their units are deemed acceptable.
Marshall said she's concerned how long that could take.
"Right now I'm 25 miles away from my job, I have to get up two and a half hours earlier to catch my bus and still be there before my shift," Marshall said."Then I have to leave early to catch the bus back."
The town of Cape Charles released a statement and said officials found significant safety concerns in 11 out of the 28 units.
The town manager, John Hozey, said the primary issue is structural.
It's an issued some residents said has been ongoing.
"I use to have like a tiny gap between my floor and my wall and now it's like this big," Marshall said. "As far as thinking a building was going to fall on me or anything, I'm not afraid of that."
Hozey said hotel costs for residents will be covered beyond Monday.
There is no word yet on how soon the apartments will be deemed safe again but for Marshall and her son, they said they just want to go home.
We reached out to Greenbrier Management for further comment but are still waiting to hear back.
