Hotel owner tries to evict dozens of people from Indianapolis hotel without giving notice

INDIANAPOLIS — On Thursday, people who live and work at Oyo Hotel, located on Indianapolis' southwest side, were told they needed to leave.

Kathy Fugate, a resident and employee, didn't hold back.

"They don't give a f*** about people," Fugate said. "I'm really pissed off because we didn't have no knowledge of them doing this."

"I work here and I didn't know anything about it. So, it was just all of a sudden," Heather Melton, another employee and resident, said.

Fugate called WRTV mid-afternoon when in an effort to make people leave, the property owner cut off the electricity and water. With how hot it has been, no one could stay in the rooms under those conditions especially some of the most vulnerable.

"Kids, elderly, we have sick people here. This is the cheapest place we could find. Nobody has no place to go," Fugate said.

"When we told him, the property owner, what about the kids? I can't say what he said, but basically, forget the kids, but a different word," Melton said.

The Office of Public Health & Safety along with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department arrived to help the residents.

OPHS brought in an IndyGo Bus to serve as a cooling space for them. They also provided food as the situation was sorted out.

Crews arrived to turn the electricity and water back on.

Now, residents who decided to stay have a place to call home for at least the next several days. Under Indiana law, a property owner must give at least a 30-day notice if the tenant is on a month-to-month lease. WRTV is told that's the case for many residents at Oyo Hotel.

WRTV has reached out to the old and new property owners to see how they're going to handle the situation moving forward. We have not heard back from either as this article was published.