TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Ocotillo Apartments and Hotel on Tucson's southside has been deemed "unfit for occupancy," after an inspection of the property found the complex without electricity or fire protection.
The City’s Code Enforcement staff was conducting a follow-up inspection this week to determine compliance with prior code violation notices, when the new code violations were discovered, according to a statement issued by the city.
Without working electricity or fire protection, no one can enter or remain on the property at East Benson Highway, east of South Park Avenue, until these problems are fixed. Anyone residing there has to vacate, the statement said.
Tucson officials and the city's nonprofit partners have been offering help to individuals at the property, the statement said. Up to 200 people lived on the property.
Many of the apartment's residents, part of a sober-living program called Happy Times, were already facing eviction after Happy Times stopped funding their stay on the property.
KGUN 9 spoke with several tenants who confirmed they were supposed to be receiving sober living resources from Happy Times through AHCCCS, including Daniel Saavedra and Belinda Gallardo.
“We gave them our AHCCCS information, social security numbers, date of birth,” said Saveedra.
“We had to sign papers every day we didn’t know for what. We never got paper work,” Gallardo added. “They got us good.”
After Happy Times stopped payments around two months ago, the Ocotillo Apartment management had no payments from those tenants. On September 20, the management wrote a letter telling tenants they needed to be out by 10 AM.
Later in the day, civil rights lawyers went door-to-door advising people to not leave because the management had not followed the formal eviction process.
Many of the tenants ended up staying, including Starla Thomas. She said after that attempted eviction, the apartment management started offering money to get tenants out.
She said, "the first day they offered $100, if we leave within an hour, and I was like ‘What’s a hundred dollars going to do? Pay for another day at another hotel? And then what?’ So I was like, ‘No, I won’t take it.’”
Daniel Saavedra and Belinda Gallardo, as well as other residents KGUN9 spoke with, had the same experience. All of them also said the power was turned off on Thursday.
“The power was shut off too yesterday, there was no reason why the power should’ve been shut off,” said Thomas.
“The powers been off, no electricity, no food,” Saavedra said.
KGUN 9 will have continued coverage as the story develops. '
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Reyna Preciado is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2022 after graduating Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Reyna by emailing reyna.preciado@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram, or Twitter.
