BLOOMINGTON — The Crawford Apartments are supposed to be a place where Bloomington's homeless can live and access services to turn their lives around. The city says the owners of the complex are falling far short of that promise.
Bloomington sued the apartments' owners in June for unsafe housing conditions and not providing supportive services to residents.
The city demanded that the owners and managers, Continental Management and Beacon Inc., bring the building up to code by August 1. Since they did not, it filed a breach of contract motion with the Crawford on Tuesday.
"The city has spent longer than a year based on background to bring these apartments up to code, and we're still not there," said Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. "Housing first options have to come with critical support services."
Dakota Collins moved into the Crawford when he was homeless on the basis of using those support services.
"They promised us case management to help us look for jobs, life coaching, things like that," Collins said.
However, Collins accused the management of not fulfilling those promises while he lived there. He said he is homeless again with no knowledge from the Crawford on how to escape the streets.
"It's just a place for us to come and die while they collect money," Collins said. "I don't have a case worker or anyone trying to help me. Really, I just have to go about services on my own basically."
Thomson said the rest of Bloomington will suffer if the Crawford Apartments continue to fall short of expectations.
"We have other contracts with Housing and Urban Development, and if we cannot maintain this one well, it puts all of our federal funding at risk," Thomson said. "We need the Crawford to be in compliance not just because we want the neighbors to thrive there, but also because it can affect all of the other agencies which depend on these services."
Beacon Inc. responded to the city's action in a statement to WRTV:
We've made incredible progress with Crawford Apartments and are disappointed by the city's recent decision. We continue to believe strongly in both the importance and viability of this development. Beacon will work diligently to support all stakeholders as we move forward and ensure the project's success for our community.
-Rev. Forrest Gilmore, Executive Director, Beacon Inc.
Collins hopes the city and the Crawford's owners take homelessness and supportive services seriously so Bloomington's less fortunate can find a way to survive.
"The program at Crawford, if they would have upheld what they said, things would be totally different right now," Collins said. "Help us the way that we need our help, otherwise the problem is never going to be fixed and we're just going to be out here on the streets."
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