It’s been over a month since residents at the Romeis Millstream Apartments in Chippewa Falls were evacuated.
CHIPPEWA VALLEY (WQOW) – It’s been over a month since residents at the Romeis Millstream Apartments in Chippewa Falls were evacuated.
The apartment complex was evacuated on June 25 this year, due to an engineering report that deemed portions of the building unfit for human occupation. Roughly 30 residents from the 509 North High Street building in the complex were forced to leave.
Related: ‘Unfit for human occupancy’: Report details structural problems at Romeis Apartments
Chrystal Williams moved into the Romeis Millstream apartments last year.
“At first everything started off okay but then after that things started to change…”
Those changes were because Williams started noticing the conditions of the building.
“The building was not in good shape whatsoever because the floors were really weak, the apartments were kind of leaning towards the side and like I said, I tried to warn the managers about it and they didn’t want to hear it,” Williams said.
She said other neighbors noticed too, and as months went on and complaints piled she had enough.
In March this year Williams and her mother moved out.
“We basically had to go stay at Motel 6 from that point, just for a short while then we had to end up unfortunately at the Regency after that and now we’re here at the Super 8.”
Her reaction to hearing that portions of the building were evacuated in late June was not surprise.
“I warned people just to be careful and find somewhere else to go,” Williams said.
Since moving out, downsizing from an apartment to a series of motel rooms has been difficult.
“It’s not easy when you try to give up stuff you really want, but sometimes you have to go through and decide what can we get rid of that we don’t need. It’s not easy, it never has been,” Williams said.
The moving also takes a toll.
“I have severe health problems, I have PTSD, I have Type 2 diabetes, I have congestive heart failure disease, I have lung diseases, I’m on home oxygen because of that and everything else,” Williams said.
According to Williams she’s somewhat hopeful after moving from the Regency to the Super 8.
“Hopefully it’s easier here, but still it would be nice if Housing or Catholic Charities or somebody could help get us into an actual apartment because it’s not cheap living from hotel to hotel.”
What she ultimately wants from the owners of Romeis Millstream apartments, Meridian Group, Inc., is accountability.
“They need to warn those people what’s going to happen before it does happen and not wait until the last minute to protect the lives and safety of all those elderly and handicapped people up there,” Williams said.
News 18 reached out to Meridian Group for comment, but they did not respond. According to the Chippewa Falls city inspector, there are no updates since the apartments were first evacuated, however he said he was getting in touch with the city’s planning consultants within the week.
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