Event for tenants of Aurora apartments at center of gang reports highlights "infested, unlivable" conditions

V. Reeves, a community organizer with the Housekeys Action Network, led a "Community Care" day event for tenants of an apartment complex in Aurora at the center of recent gang reports that have made national news.

"We want to stand with some of our most vulnerable tenants in the city," Reeves said at Saturday's event.

Community leaders and organizations gathered to witness firsthand the conditions that tenants are facing at the Whispering Pines Apartment Complex on Helena Street.

"People are paying between $1,600 and $2,000 for these incredibly infested, unlivable conditions," Reeves said.

The apartment complex is one of several in Aurora under scrutiny for uninhabitable living conditions. It's owned by C-B-Z Management, the same property management company that left hundreds of tenants without homes after the city abated the Nome Street building.

Tenants at Whispering Pines fear they may face a similar fate.

Organizers told CBS News Colorado that a city official informed them tenants at Whispering Pines will have 15 days to vacate if the property management company does not respond to city requests or make repairs.

However, the city of Aurora told CBS Colorado it has not yet determined the next steps for Whispering Pines.

"They don't have the means to move, and they lack support to apply for new housing," Reeves said.

Reeves added that it's even harder for residents to be accepted into other complexes due to rumors about a gang takeover in several Aurora apartment buildings.

"You have folks like Moises, who has been applying for a month. He lives in the apartments on Dallas Street, one of the other complexes, and says people have turned him down as soon as they see his address. People with jobs are being told they have to hide the fact that they are Venezuelan," Reeves said.

In early September, CBS Colorado investigative reporter Brian Maass obtained a confidential report by a Denver law firm, commissioned by the building's lenders, stating that a Venezuelan gang had taken over Whispering Pines by late 2023.

Venezuelan migrant Maria, who has lived at the complex for a few months, says those are just rumors.

"I traveled through seven countries just to get here, and to be treated badly -- it's ugly, it's sad, and it hurts," Maria said.

She said the narrative is deeply damaging to their community.

"We're not all the same. Nobody is perfect, but we deserve an opportunity," she said.

A spokesperson for the city of Aurora released a statement to CBS Colorado acknowledging the situation and clarifying the city's position:

"We wholeheartedly understand and share in the frustrations expressed by Whispering Pines tenants. We are still working to get the property owners and managers to address the multitude of issues at their complexes, including Whispering Pines. We are using every tool available under state and municipal law to hold property owners and managers accountable, including actions that are not yet public. The property owners continue to rebuff or ignore the city's efforts. It is their responsibility—and their responsibility alone under the law—to care for their tenants, as the city has no property right or legal interest in these properties. The city's authority and resources only extend as far as state and municipal law allows."

The abatement of the Nome Street building in Aurora displaced nearly 400 tenants, many of them low-income families. The potential condemnation of the Dallas Street building could leave even more tenants without homes and with limited city resources.