PG County judge gives residents 14 days to evacuate Hyattsville condos next to a homeless encampment

A Prince George’s County District Court judge on Thursday gave property managers 14 days to evacuate the Marylander Condominiums and begin repairing a heating system they say homeless people damaged in November.

Judge Bryon Bereano said he wanted to balance the danger of residents dying in this winter’s extreme cold with the condo association’s lack of funding to effect repairs in a timely fashion.

“I’m just trying to be realistic,” Judge Bereano told a courtroom packed with condo owners and county officials.

He also ordered property manager Quasar to start repairing the electrical system, fix a hole in a property fence created by transients and email daily logs to county fire officials confirming that the homeless have not vandalized the property’s electrical installation.

Half of the condo’s 200 units have been without central heating since the day before Thanksgiving, and many have since lost electricity due to portable heaters overwhelming the grid.

Calisa Smith, the county’s attorney, stressed a need for Quasar to monitor the electrical system, even if it lacks funds to effect other repairs.

“Currently, they don’t have the resources,” Ms. Smith told the judge.

Dennis Whitley, an attorney representing the condo association board, said Quasar officials were pricing the heating repairs as they seek a bank loan.

“The funding’s not in place to do anything right now,” Mr. Whitley said.

Phil Dawit, Quasar’s managing director of real estate, told the judge that homeless addicts keep returning to the encampment after police arrest and release them. Quasar has blamed the county’s failure to disperse the encampment for banks, insurers and vendors severing ties to the property.

A dozen condo owners attended the hearing. Some told The Washington Times that they moved into hotels last week after they lost power and the cold became unbearable.

“We have no way of cooking, preserving food, or living in a civilized society,” said Jason Vanhorne, who moved with his mother out of a unit she has owned for nearly 20 years.

Chris Barber, a condo owner who has lived with his mother and brother at the Marylander since 1982, said they had spent more than $3,000 on hotel rooms. He said they paid the bills out of pocket because the county offered temporary shelter in discounted hotels that were too far for them to get to work.

“I don’t see this getting resolved in two weeks,” Mr. Barber said.

Other condo owners said they were remaining in their units without heat, electricity or hot water because they have nowhere else to go.

“I’m sick and I have no money for a hotel,” said Ernesto Chamurro, a 30-year resident who said he is paying $1,065 in monthly condo fees on top of a $680 mortgage payment.

Lucienne Michaud, who has lived in her unit since 1988, said the water coming out of her faucets is so cold that it hurts to touch it.

“I don’t have anywhere to go,” said Ms. Michaud, who is retired. “I don’t feel like they are going to fix anything.”

She said repairs to the perimeter fence and building locks have proven ineffective because homeless addicts “know how to get through the doors” to sleep and defecate in the building’s laundry room.

Judge Bereano has scheduled a March 17 follow-up hearing for a status update. He said he will not hold the condo association in contempt of court as long as Quasar works “in good faith” on repairs and helping county officials persuade residents to leave.

The judge acknowledged the condo association’s complaint that a bank withdrew financing for repairs after county inspectors declared the Marylander “unfit for human habitation” on Dec. 10.

He also raised concerns about “the optics and the practicality” of forcing people out of their homes if property managers make no progress toward the repairs.