Judge says no one will be evicted from Roosevelt Building on Friday after fire

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Tenants of the Roosevelt Building in Downtown Pittsburgh are on edge about where they will be living. They were essentially told to move out by Friday after a fire killed a woman and caused substantial damage to the building.  

A judge gave a verbal order that no one will be evicted on Friday.  

For more than three hours, attorneys representing the residents of the Roosevelt building and the building's ownership argued over what to do. Tenants argued that they can't just be kicked out. The defense said it's not safe for them to live there.  

"My apartment looks like it did before. My electricity works. My air conditioner works. I have hot water. There's no wetness on my floor," resident Gloria Robinette said. 

After the order came from the judge, the loved ones of Barbara Johnson celebrated her life. She died nearly one month ago in the fire that broke out at the complex. 

Quinzetta Johnson isn't just facing the death of her mother, but also eviction from her apartment. She said the building's landlords said her and her mom's apartments were condemned and that their stuff needed to be moved out by Friday.

"She was demanding me, give me a date," Johnson said. "I said I can't give you no date right now. I'm in the middle of burying my mom."

For residents like Robinette, options are limited. Robinette has lived in the building for about 10 years and says she's on a fixed income and other places she can afford have waitlists of up to three years.  

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"If there is a risk, my alternative is the street, so I'll take the risk. It's that simple," she said.  

The defense said they don't want to kick people out of the building, but they feel it's not safe for them to be in there. Their claim is this is not a resident-landlord dispute. They argue after all the damage from the fire and water, people could be exposing themselves to harm.  

"All we're trying to do is make sure everyone understands what's out there in terms of risk associated with the residential units so they can understand that what we're doing is actually protecting them," defense attorney Jonathan Kamin said.  

The city condemned only portions of the building. The defense said they did not know that until Friday. They said their testing shows the apartments should not be occupied.  

"We've been working around the clock to get people housed. We have been working with HUD. We've been working with various other agencies," Kamin said after the hearing.  

"You can't find a place. There's no way to find anything," Robinette said.  

The hearing has been continued to Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

"I'm already out of the building," Johnson said. "I don't have a place to stay."