KINGSLAND, GA — In a press release from today, the City of Kingsland said, since the utility services were shut off, the renters had to leave.
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We all slept on the streets last night,” The Kingsland Hotel property manager Jimmy Greene said.
Tuesday, the tenants were kicked out of their homes.
While the release said the city would help everyone who was displaced, tenants tell Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez, that help never came. Instead, they say they were met with handcuffs when they tried returning to get their belongings.
“It’s sad,” Ashley Guiles a tenant at the hotel said.
The Kingsland Hotel served as a place for those struggling with money to have a more affordable place to sleep at night.
But the Kingsland City Manager Lee Spell said he was forced to cut off utility services, Tuesday.
Spell said after trying to work with management and the owners, the utility bills were never paid. In the press release, he said, “This is an incredibly difficult situation for the residents who have relied on this hotel as their home.”
Because of city and state regulations, Spell said the tenants can’t stay in a building without its utilities – so they were forced to leave.
“The tenants, as far as I know, got no notice at all,” an anonymous tenant said.
“I just think it’s sad for this county, they need to do something for the homeless,” Greene said. “I mean we got veterans out on the streets, we’ve got people who’ve been homeless for years and they’re just trying to make ends meet.”
With ownership not answering, Greene said he tried paying the water bill Tuesday, but it wouldn’t go through. So, everyone was kicked off property. But when they tried returning the next day, police showed up.
“We come back today cause KPD – the Kinglsand Police Department – said we could get our stuff,” Greene said. “A lot of people were here, they pulled up and started arresting people, and even my daughter.”
Spell said the city made every effort to keep the hotel open, and were sending teams out to help the people displaced. But the tenants say no one came.
“They have not helped us in any way,” the anonymous tenant said. “It makes me feel angry and frustrated because for people just to be able to do that – for people to just come up and uproot you. I mean it’s wrong.”
Greene said the tenants shouldn’t have to suffer for the failures of the property. He claims the landlords have always been responsible for the bills, but they haven’t been paying up. Greene said he hasn’t been able to get ahold of them.
Action News Jax tried calling them tonight, and never heard back.
We also reached out to the Kingsland Police Department about the arrests today, and the spokesperson said we have to call back tomorrow for more information.
You can find the full press release from the City of Kingsland, HERE.
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