‘What do I do? Where do I go?’: Nearly a dozen Omaha tenants left homeless due to fire code violations
By Sean MacKinnon
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OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — A historic Omaha house at 21st and Binney is now closed by order of the city.
Inspectors taped a yellow danger sign to the front door Monday morning saying people living there need to leave.
“Just out of the blue, unexpected with no notice. They put something on the door saying we had to be out tonight [Monday] by five,” Levi, a man living there said.
Omaha’s Chief Housing Inspector Scott Lane says they received a complaint to inspect the house last Wednesday.
They responded, along with an Omaha fire inspector who noted several issues, including fire alarm and protection systems that are non-functional, wood steps in danger of collapse, an unsafe non-code handicap ramp, and no complete functioning bathrooms.
Lane says fire code violations warranted the order to vacate.
Tenants say it’s been like this since they moved in.
“Alarms are gone. They were never in here when we got here,” Christina Miller, a woman living there said.
“The stairs have always been like that,” she said. “They wobble when you walk down them.”
KETV NewsWatch 7 spoke with the landlord, John Pinkerton, who told us:
“It used to be an assisted living home and we had full fire alarms for that. It’s basically a single-family house and you don’t need fire alarms for that,” Pinkerton said.
He also told us the leaseholder sublet the house to more than a dozen people without him knowing.
Inspector Lane says a fire would be catastrophic considering how many people were staying there. Now, about a dozen people including an 8-month-old baby have nowhere to call home.
“We don’t know what we’re going do,” Miller said. “Homeless. It sucks.”
“What do I do, where do I go, what am I supposed to do,” Levi said.
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