Tracy Residents Homeless More Than A Week After Tree Falls On Apartment Complex
TRACY (CBS13) — Eight families are still waiting to get back into their homes after a tree fell on their apartment complex last month.
"About 10 p.m. at night, I heard a boom. It felt like a bomb hit."
And since that boom, Alisa Laverne's life has been turned upside down. A giant tree came crashing down on a Tracy apartment building more than a week ago.
After the residents were evacuated, management of Tracy Village Apartments removed the tree, but the eight families affected weren't allowed to go home.
Laverne said she was told damage caused by the tree possibly aggravated asbestos inside.
After three days in a hotel courtesy of the Red Cross, Laverne and her two young children are now calling their SUV home, sleeping on friends' couches at night.
She says the complex's management is refusing to help them out.
"His exact words were, 'We're not responsible,'" she said.
Anjelica Quinones and her two children are in the same boat—homeless.
"I have no money to even rent a motel if I wanted to," Quinones said. "I haven't seen anyone doing anything out here at all."
CBS13 tracked down property management.
"We're doing everything that we're legally bound to do," a representative said.
He then referred us to the management's corporate offices, saying they were the ones who made the decisions.
A lawyer told CBS13 that if the tree came down as an act of God, it's likely the complex isn't required to assist families. But if the families could prove management knew the tree would possibly fall, residents could get some compensation.
