Centerville resident, asked to relocate because of a renovation, is not happy with temporary digs

UPDATE @ 6:15 p.m. (June 28):

A day following this News Center 7 report, Evelyn Siler reported that the property management company is going to clean up the temporary apartment the moved her to.

INITIAL REPORT:

A tenant who is scheduled to be relocated while her permanent residence at Madrid Estates apartments in Centerville undergoes a multimillion-dollar renovation is not happy about what she describes as the “filthy” conditions of her temporary digs.

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Evelyn Siler, 89, has lived at Madrid Estates, on Fox Grove Drive, since February 1994 and told News Center 7′s Haley Kosik on Monday night that living in the community in the outer Centerville Kettering area of Centerville has been nice.

The public housing property in Montgomery County is to be renovated to the tune of $10 million and Greater Dayton Premier Management told Siler that all the tenants would have to relocate until the reno is finished.

“I haven’t had any problems, never been late with my rent, did whatever they told me to do...,” Siler said to Kosik.

Jennifer Heapy, GDPM executive director, said in a statement to News Center 7: “While we understand this can cause some residents unease, this balanced approach allows us to address the critical needs of a 50-year-old building in desperate need of repairs and minimizing the disruption in our residents lives.”

Siler, however, said the move has been more than a disruption because she will have to make a few trips to her new place.

“I don’t want to be a bad tenant, I just don’t understand why they’re doing it,” she said.

GDPM has offered to help move the estate tenants.

“I was supposed to be out of this unit, well it would have been Thursday that they were supposed to move me out, Thursday, and I told them I couldn’t move in there like that.”

What she found was dirt, a grease covered stove hood and a calcified sink.

GDPM officials said they had the unit cleaned after inspections and/or resident concerns.

“We have had the unit cleaned a second time, replaced corroded sink drains and even offered to move appliances from the resident’s current unit to their relocation unit,” GDPM said.

Siler said when GDPM told her where I was going, they said, ‘well, here you can clean your own apartment.’

Siler, who lives on a fixed income, has a heart condition and doesn’t drive, said she’s not relocating until her temporary residence meets with her satisfaction.

“I’m sure I’m going to get flagged over this interview, but I just want to be treated like all the rest of the people.”