Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
A sign warns people about the unsafe structures at The Park at Buckingham apartments off West Valley Avenue.
It has been two months since residents of The Park at Buckingham apartments off West Valley Avenue were ordered to vacate the premises due to unsafe conditions, but the future of the complex remains uncertain.
Homewood Fire Department officials said conditions had deteriorated to the point that some units were considered unsafe for human occupancy. Reported problems include water intrusion, warped floors, leaks, mold and other maintenance issues.
The welcome center at The Park in Buckingham apartments off West Valley Avenue.
About 300 people were living in the apartments when the fire marshal posted signs that the buildings were unsafe to inhabit.
Homewood Building Inspector Wyatt Pugh said the office and clubhouse and three other buildings — 106-108, 111-113 and 123-125 — could be occupied.
“These were not posted as unsafe to occupy,” Pugh said. “They had corrections that need to be made, but they were corrections that were reasonable to be made and continue to be occupied. The rest of them have severe problems, including a lack of fire block/fire stopping, structural issues with balconies and decks on the outside, air quality issues. It’s lots of leaks, plumbing leaks. The buildings are not safe to occupy.
“It’s gone on for years and years,” he said. “We’ve had assurance after assurance that things were going to get fixed, but they never do.”
Notices were posted at the end of July that the residences are not fit to be inhabited. Residents started leaving in early August.
Photos by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Homewood Fire Chief Brandon Broadhead discusses the condemnation process for The Park at Buckingham apartments.
In assessing the future of the complex, Fire Chief Brandon Broadhead cited the condemnation process.
“The Fire Department determines it’s unsafe,” Broadhead said. “We turn it [over to] building inspections and they go and do their inspection. They also determined that it was unsafe, and then they refer it to the Abatement Board. The Abatement Board is made up of citizens here in Homewood. The Abatement Board determines if they recommend to the council whether it be torn down or remediated or whatever the fix would be.”
Pugh said the Park at Buckingham is on the October agenda of the Abatement Board.
“At that time, the Abatement Board will review all of the conditions and determine whether the buildings are unsafe to the extent that they create a public nuisance,” the building inspector said. “That’s their job, to determine that. If they find that those buildings are unsafe to the extent they create a public nuisance, the owner will be given notice of unsafe structure, giving them 60 days to bring the unsafe conditions into a safe condition to abate the unsafe conditions essentially.
Furniture and belongings are loaded onto a trailer as residents vacate The Park at Buckingham apartments in August.
“If they don’t [abate the issues], then it will be referred to City Council to consider whether or not to condemn the buildings.”
Condemnation could yield demolition.
“Once [the council passes] a resolution, that would mean that we then have the authority, pending any appeals, that we would have the authority to demolish the buildings,” Pugh said.
The city building inspector said he’s seen issues at the Park at Buckingham apartments throughout his 10-year tenure with the city.
“On and off the whole time, there have been issues that we’ve been working with them to try to get corrected,” he said. “Sometimes they’ve corrected things that we’ve brought to them. There was a time when we would take them the worst problems and they would get them corrected. But now it’s just snowballed.”
Volunteers organize donated paper products for residents displaced from The Park at Buckingham apartments.
Residents of the apartment complex faced uncertainty as well as they looked for places to live after their homes were deemed unlivable. But neighbors came to their aid.
Homewood City Council established seed funding to assist residents who were displaced by the July condemnation of the Park at Buckingham apartments. The council allotted $25,000 to start the fund aimed at aiding residents after Homewood code enforcement officers posted condemnation notices on most of the apartment buildings. Residents were given 30 days to vacate the affected buildings.
Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama (HICA) was approved to administer funds from the city and those contributed by others.
A volunteer assists a resident at a resource fair for those displaced by the closure of The Park at Buckingham apartments.
A resource fair was held at Trinity United Methodist Church’s west campus. The city of Homewood and multiple organizations within the city — including the Church of Homewood, Trinity, Dawson Memorial Baptist, Volunteer Lawyers in Birmingham, United Way, Homewood City Schools and Homewood Community Church — created a resource team that works with families to get them into new accommodations.
“They’ve raised like $135,000 in order to help families,” Broadhead said.
Photos by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Carlos Alemán, CEO of the Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama (HICA), discusses resources available to residents displaced from The Park at Buckingham apartments.
Carlos Alemán, CEO of the Hispanic and Immigrant Center of Alabama, said more than 100 people came out, and several community partners were at the resource fair.
“We took a lot of intakes for folks who needed assistance in moving,” he said. “We’re doing first-month rental deposits. They will email us the vendor of where they’re going, the moving company, what have you, and then we will pay that for them. Or they will call us, and we will figure that out.”
Alemán only wishes more could have been done for residents who were displaced.
“I think that we just try to do what’s right by our neighbors. That’s all,” Alemán said. “These are folks, and we can help them. And this isn’t enough.
“I’ll be honest. I’ll be frank,” he said. “I wish we could do more than what we’re doing. We’re just trying because we’re having to cap the amounts to help as many people as possible, up to $1,000 for the most part. Sometimes [if] there are extraordinary circumstances, maybe [we can do] a little bit more. But we’re trying to help as many people as possible.”
The HICA CEO said it has been able to get quite a bit of money out.
“Now we’re just continuing to process those requests through cashier’s checks,” Alemán said. “We just had a conversation where we’re going to start allowing back rent to be paid through some of the funds because some people can’t get out of their lease until they pay off their back rent. We’ll be providing assistance in that regard as well. We’ve already exhausted the city of Homewood’s contribution and now we’re utilizing Trinity and others’ contributions.”
