Sharpsburg recovery house operator at odds with new landlord
SHARPSBURG, Pa. (KDKA) - A recovery house operator in Sharpsburg says a dispute with her new landlord is putting the future of her program in jeopardy.
After leaving the Army, Kelly Ferri's life spiraled downward. Heroin addiction led to a brief stint in jail, but a judge took pity and got her help in getting clean and sober.
"Someone took a chance on me and I want to extend that to others. I want to do the same. I want to pay that forward," Ferri said.
The result is a project called The Journey Continues: three recovery houses in Sharpsburg for men considered to be the toughest of cases like recovering heroin addict Chris Yatsko who says he's been in and out of jail 30 times for drugs.
Sheehan: "What would have happened to you without this place?"
Yatsko: "I'd be in the streets or dead."
Sheehan: "No one else would give you a chance?"
Yatsko: "No."
"Some of these men who come in here have burned their bridges with family, they don't have a support system so we rebuild that here," Ferri said.
But now Ferri says the journey is on shaky ground due to an escalating dispute with her landlord who bought the buildings last summer. She says he refused to send exterminators for mice, electricians for faulty wiring or plumbers when raw sewage came through a hole.
"He's told me if I don't like things, he'll let me out of the lease. We do not have that option. I have men on home plans who will go back to jail or men who will go back to the street. Then what?" she said.
"I told her flat out: 'this is enough, I'm not going to be the janitor here,'" building owner Domenick Stelitano said.
Stelitano says the problems are those of basic maintenance like clogged toilets which should be handled by the tenants themselves.
"She's got three bathrooms. She needs to go to Home Depot and get three plungers," he said.
But Ferri says she recently paid a plumber $700 out of pocket for repairs and now needs to buy new toilets. She says she'll be deducting that money from her next rent check. Stelitano denies he's trying to force Ferri out but says this might force his hand.
"Her lease isn't up for two and half years, I don't know what she's talking about. If she withholds the rent, I will evict her for that," Stetlitano said.
