What to know about the Val U Stay Inn's closure in Pueblo and what comes next

Editor's note: This story was updated on May 3 to include comments from Mayor Heather Graham and the city of Pueblo.

A former resident of the Val U Stay Inn and Suites is questioning the timing of a raid that displaced many residents of the budget hotel, which was shut down and condemned for not having a lodging license, as well as its "unlivable" conditions following a multi-agency operation on April 25.

Anthony Santora, who said he lived at the hotel for two years, said residents had previously been informed that the hotel, owned by Pueblo Hospitality LLC, would be closing on May 15.

As such, Santora stated that residents were taken completely by surprise when they suddenly found themselves forced to vacate.

"(Mayor Heather Graham) acted like she was some moral crusader, saying that she 'couldn't let people live in filth,'" Santora said.

"There should have been an order of transition. By the 15th, most people would have been gone with some kind of concrete plans without wasting the resources of (local nonprofit Posada of Pueblo) who did a really good job. Of course, they can only work with what they have."

Through the efforts of Posada, Santora said he was provided a temporary room at another local hotel. Between Posada and other agencies, he stated that he believed most of those evicted from the Val U Stay Inn were able to find temporary housing at one of two local hotels, but only for a few weeks at most.

If allowed to stay until the original May 15 deadline, Santora said he believes that while some residents may have still ended up on the street, "there would have been way more taken care of, and the nonprofits would have had more time to work with the situation."

"Even the police were confused, they were in the lots, unsure if we could go back in or not (to retrieve belongings)," he said. "One (officer) on one side of a building would say, 'Go ahead.' Originally, the county was supposed to have people escort us in and make sure everyone is OK. But once we got there, they made us wait again, one guy was saying, 'I don't know because they keep changing the rules."

Santora stated that since being forced to vacate, he has not been able to retrieve all of his possessions, as he was only given a short time to grab what he could from his room.

"I was able to get about half of my stuff about four or five hours after the incident, and then we all had to quickly get out to make sure everyone gets a ride," he said.

Santora said he has so far been unable to retrieve the rest of his possessions.

He also questioned the condition of most of the rooms, which Graham called "unlivable" during a press conference Thursday. While he acknowledged some rooms likely had problems, such as one where officials found 38 cats, he stated he had not seen any rooms with obvious trash buildup or overwhelming filth.

However, an official with the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment stated the majority of the rooms at the hotel were found to pose "imminent health hazards" due to their condition.

Pueblo Hospitality LLC owner Bruce Rahmani declined to comment to the Chieftain, aside from saying he was retired and is no longer involved in day to day operations of the hotel.

Crazy Faith Ministries says agency wasn't given adequate warning

Tammy Kainz of Crazy Faith Ministries told the Chieftain that the nonprofit faith organization that works to shelter Pueblo's homeless during emergency weather declarations by the city was not given adequate warning of the upcoming need after the shutdown of the hotel.

"We started receiving phone calls about four days prior because the motel told them they had about 20 days before they shut down," Kainz said. "So everyone had a bit of a heads-up, but it wasn't an accurate heads-up. So people were shocked when the evacuation happened because they were told differently by the motel."

Kainz stated that she believed the hotel had been notified of the impending evacuation but did not properly convey that information to guests.

"According to Mayor Graham, they had told the motel they had about 15 days to fix (violations found) or else, and that time was past — that's what allowed the city to go in and check on them," Kainz said. "According to Mayor Graham, the motel should have notified people 15 days prior."

However, Kainz said Crazy Faith Ministries was caught off guard, as they had not been made aware that an ordinance allowing Mayor Heather Graham to declare an emergency year-round so churches and other religious edifices, like Crazy Faith, can shelter people in need had been changed to also account for emergency evacuations.

"We were not expecting that because the mayor did not let us know that she changed the ordinance on Monday night to include emergency evacuations," Kainz said. "So the fact that she allowed churches to open up their doors, and we're the only church in town that does open up our doors, it would have been nice to know. If they had told us they're about to go from winter weather to (other kinds of) emergencies, we could have been more prepared."

The emergency declaration expired the night of May 1, Kainz said. During the time they were open, Crazy Faith housed about a dozen people from the Val U Stay Inn and was able to find places to stay for about half of them. About six more who never physically stayed at Crazy Faith were also placed by the ministry.

"But the other half we haven't quite placed," she said. "We're not going to sleep well ourselves until we get them in permanent housing. Everyone deserves a roof over their head."

While the closure of the hotel provided challenges for those evicted, Kainz stated that she did hear from multiple residents that the raid needed to happen because the Val U Stay Inn "was not a good place."

What the Pueblo Department of Health and Environment found in the hotel

Trysten Garcia, a spokesperson for the Pueblo Department of Public Health and Environment, stated that during the health department's inspection of the hotel, cleanliness was the biggest concern.

"Pest infestations were found in some of the rooms, (there was) trash buildup, and plenty of rooms that had fecal matter, both human and animal feces, and so all of those pose an imminent health hazard," Garcia told the Chieftain. "And there were more of those rooms that posed those hazards than didn't."

Garcia said that the health department team attributed much of its findings to rooms that were set up for short-term stays but were lived in for a much longer term than the hotel's infrastructure supports.

"Some of the expectations from folks at a public accommodation or a short-term stay would be that they're receiving cleaning from a crew that would be coming in from guest to guest, but many of the guests were staying there much longer term, so cleanliness was just missing from almost all of the rooms the team inspected," Garcia said.

Garcia was unable to give a definitive number of how many rooms were inspected, or how many rooms were in the hotel overall.

Some rooms were marked by Pueblo police or other agencies and were not entered by the health department team, Garcia said. Other areas of the hotel were boarded up or marked by the hotel as uninhabited.

Garcia was similarly unable to say exactly how many rooms were found to have pest issues and stated that the department was still reviewing all of the data collected in the operation.

While the hazards identified were extensive, Garcia said the hotel could still reopen if health department officials are able to go back in, reinspect all the rooms, and sign off on the changes made.

"If the facility can bring all those violations up to code, and provide a safe, clean, and healthy environment, we'd be more than willing to work with them through that process," he said. However, he stated it would be "quite the process" to bring all the violations back to code.

Graham says shutting down hotel is 'one step forward in making Pueblo a better city'

In a written statement provided to the Chieftain Friday afternoon, the city of Pueblo stated that the hotel was a safety concern and that they issued a letter on April 10, giving the hotel 15 days to shut down.

"The (Val U Stay) had been operating without a license all of 2024 and were well out of compliance," city officials said in the statement. "The Mayor’s Office initiated the multi-agency operation after the City issued a letter on April 10 to the (Val U Stay) notifying them they were delinquent with their business license and providing them an opportunity to come into compliance within 15 days."

The statement said the city's jurisdiction in business operations is to "ensure the safety of residents is forefront and that businesses remain compliant with sales tax, business licensing, and up-to-date on inspections."

Furthermore, the city stated that "Had the (Val U Stay) closed without the City’s initiation of resources, they likely would not have been provided in the same manner with as many community partners present on the same day. "

"The City called on our nonprofit partners to assist with finding temporary and permanent housing," the statement read. "United Way of Pueblo County helped facilitate a multi-agency approach to ensure no one went without immediate shelter and other nonprofit partners are assisting with permanent placement for former (Val U Stay) residents. "

Graham stated that shutting down the hotel was a move to fulfill her campaign promises and keep Pueblo safe. The city's statement noted that prior to the hotel's closure, the Pueblo Police Department had responded to more than 1,600 incidents there in the prior year and a half.

“I stated on my campaign trail that public safety would be my top priority. Shutting down the second hotel since I took office with a place of high crime, unsanitary living conditions, prostitution, drug distribution and general nuisance to the community is just one step forward in making Pueblo a better city and delivering on the promises I made," Graham said.

"This is just the next step in many more to come. From what I hear, it’s quiet over there and I have had multiple businesses and residents of the (Val U Stay) both current and former reach out and thank me for shutting it down.”

Questions, comments, or story tips? Contact Justin at jreutterma@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formally known as Twitter, @jayreutter1. Support local news, subscribe to The Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: How the Val U Stay closure impacted residents, Pueblo service agencies