By Angeljean Chiaramida
Staff writer
—
SALISBURY — The Salisbury Beach apartment building at 14 Ocean St. deemed uninhabitable by town inspectors will be up for sale in a foreclosure auction Sept. 15, as its owners Jack and Marina Kitzis walked away from it, leaving five families homeless.
Also on the auction block on Sept. 15 will be the abutting building at 43 Railroad Ave., also owned by Jack and Marina Kitzis of Newton. It holds six apartments, many of which also have fire, building and health code violations the town has been trying to get the owners to fix for months.
After nearly 30 calls from town inspectors since May concerning the unsafe state of the building's staircase, its electrical and plumping systems, as well other code violations, Kitzis told Salisbury building inspector David Lovering on Aug. 10 if his insurance company won't pay to fix what's wrong with the building, he was going to forfeit the property to the bank.
According to town tax records, Kitzis bought both properties in February 2008, paying $650,000 for each. The town assesses the Ocean Street property value at $316,200 and the Railroad Avenue property at $319,600. As of August, he is current with his property taxes, but municipal liens on the properties may exist.
Town Manager Neil Harrington has since Aug. 16 tried unsuccessfully to make contact with the bank that now has control of the buildings. Harrington and selectmen had hoped the bank would make the needed improvements to the buildings, allowing the 16 displaced tenants to return to their homes.
"Right now, I think it's fairly clear that the families who once lived there won't be returning," Harrington said.
On Aug. 5 about 7:30 p.m., Lovering declared the building at 14 Ocean St. uninhabitable, giving its residents a short time to pack up basic necessities and leave their apartments. After months of trying to get Kitzis to make repairs to the shaky stairs — the only access to the second floor — and other serious issues, the situation became critical that night when firefighters responded to the building on a medical call. Finding the stairs in a near state of collapse, supported only on one corner by the exterior electrical panel that was itself rotting off the wall, Lovering closed the place down.
The electricity was turned off, and firefighters tore down the stairs as a precaution. Although firefighters helped residents out via ladders, tenants left most of their food and belongings behind and were out on the street with no shelter.
Kitzis was called to the scene that night, agreeing to put up the tenants for one night at a Salisbury motel, but since then the families — most with young children — have had to shift for themselves. Kitzis has not returned security deposits or rents for the month of August, leaving the families cash strapped as well.
Former tenants struggle
Pettengill House has worked with the families, acting as a liaison to state housing agencies, which required a formal letter from the town confirming the families were indeed put out of their homes due to uninhabitablity. Letters have been issued to three of the five families that lived at 14 Oceant St., Harrington said. The hope is that with confirmation of the situation, the state can find shelter for the displaced tenants. However, so far, permanent housing is scarce.
Some displaced tenants are living on the temporary help of friends, but most have not been able to find a place to live in Salisbury that they can afford or that landlords will rent to them.
Linzie Colby, the young mother of an 11-month-old baby who lived on the second floor of 14 Ocean St., said she's been trying to arrange a time when she can get back up into the second floor of the building to retrieve her belongings before they're stolen or vandalized. Colby asked town officials at the Board of Selectmen's meeting on Aug. 16 for permission to get her belongings.
Harrington said the town has arranged to help Colby move her things out of her apartment on Tuesday or Wednesday, and Colby is hoping to find a place to live soon.
"We're going to go look at a house on Saturday," she said on Thursday. "It's about an hour away, but we're really hoping it will work out. My baby has a place to stay, but I'm living in my car right now."
Colby's boyfriend works every day, she said, but they're saving the money he earns for other necessities, so the car is home for the two of them.
"We don't want to use that money on a motel," she said. "We need it to take care of our family."
Former first-floor tenant Ronda Devine was able to get her possessions out, but like Colby, she's living day to day, uncertain of the future.
"I still haven't found a place to live, but I keep looking. My friend is paying to put me up in a motel, but I'll have to pay him back." Devine said. "The people in Salisbury have helped me so much, I was really starting to get my life together, so I really want to stay here. My kids just love Salisbury schools. My 16-year-old is a straight-A student, never missed a day. I'd hate to have to move them, so that's my last resort."
Devine is working with staff members from Pettengill House, who she said have been helpful, but she prays she will soon be able to find a place she and her two children can live securely in Salisbury.
Afraid of this exact scenario, town officials had tried to work with Kitzis, trying to give him time to fix the violations in the building so it wouldn't be shut down and its residents out on the street. But Kitzis repeatedly broke promises he made to town officials and failed to return calls and meet repair deadlines.
"This man is a slumlord, as far as I'm concerned," Harrington said in a previous interview.
The foreclosure may let Kitzis wiggle out of his responsibilities to his mortgage holder and his tenants, but Harrington hopes there's a way to move legally — even criminally — against him in weeks to come.
