City: 'Squatters' must leave apartments

There are still people living on the second and third floors of the Victory Apartments building, a month after the city of Cloquet warned those residents that without a proper backstairs, an escape in case of fire or other calamity, the apartments are deemed uninhabitable.

After an inspection on July 1, the city posted more reminders on apartment doors this week, causing a stir among tenants who construed them as forcible evictions.

That isn't the case, said Holly Hansen, the community development director for the city. She said the notices are simply another reminder to tenants that continuing to live in the apartments is not allowed, and they could be ticketed for trespassing. Any forced evictions would need to be carried out by the landlord using law enforcement.

Victory manager Brian Vanderwerk was frantic on Tuesday, saying he took the new notices as an immediate eviction.

"I'm hitting the streets tonight," he said, obviously shaken. "I have nowhere to go."

There are limited options for the tenants in a very tight housing market. Vanderwerk said the CHUM shelter in Duluth, the only such emergency option in the region, is a nonstarter since he doesn't have transportation. He, like others on the upper floors, also has pets.

There just isn't anywhere for people to go, he said.

Vandewerk, who has lived at Victory for four years and has been manager for three, said tenants have obtained an attorney from Legal Aid in order to secure a court order stating that the building owner, Roger Bruhn, must pay for temporary housing.

Bruhn was told about the stairs in the fall of 2020, and by this spring, the city moved to clear the apartments.

The dilapidated stairs, with treads that have broken under tenants' feet and are far from the current code for strength, serve as the only direct exit for the upper floors of the building at 17 Eighth Street, near the Pedro's restaurant building. The other exit is an interior one, through the center of the building. There are nine units on the second and third floors.

Bruhn had said earlier this year that he made unsuccessful efforts for a bank loan to fix the stairs, which he estimates will cost $80,000. He also looked into suggestions for nonprofit and government program help and came up empty, he said.

Fixing the stairs doesn't add enough equity to a building with an estimated value of $300,000, he said.

But the city informed Bruhn this week of lower bids, one with a cost estimate $32,000 lower than his original bid, which had factored in winter construction. Bruhn said he contacted the contractor this week about the bid brought up by the city. Bruhn now hopes the lower cost will entice the local bank he is working with to provide a loan. He also asked Hanson if the city would now partner with him for a rehabilitation loan, with the costs for the fix more palatable. There isn't a program available.

"The best I can do is keep the channels of communication going with the city," he said. "And I have."

Bruhn said this spring that a difficult economy was driving his lack of funding. He also said the pandemic had an effect on his income from the 12-unit property, as some residents hadn't paid rent while a moratorium on evictions remained.

This week, Hansen sent a reply to questions from Bruhn, reminding him that the city is merely making it clear that the upper apartments are not to have tenants until the stairs are fixed.

The apartment building was visited by city officials on Friday, July 1. Hanson said it was obvious that tenants were still there. The city prepared more notices for those tenants and sent a letter to Bruhn with updates from the inspection of the building and its concerns about the remaining tenants.

Hansen said the price of new stairs would rise significantly if tenants remained on the upper floors because a temporary escape route would need to be in place while the permanent stairs are replaced.

Bruhn said he prefers to have his tenants remain and said he wasn't sure how any forced eviction process would work since he hasn't gone through it before. "I'm trying to make some sense out of all of it," he said Wednesday.

"To be clear," the city wrote to Bruhn Tuesday, "the city has no eviction process whatsoever going on. The City of Cloquet has not in any way initiated forcible evictions in any manner."

"We as the city have a job to do here to be reminding folks that are remaining in the upper floors that (it has) legally revoked the certificate of occupancy for this building as unfit for human occupancy."

"You still have 'squatters,' for lack of a better technical term, and as such, if people are present, a secondary fire access is needed to initiate staircase repairs, so that is for you as the landlord to resolve prior to pulling the building permit for the stairs."

Vandewerk, the apartment manager, remains in limbo.

"I don't have any resources," Venderwerk said. He admitted that there were three units, including his, with people in them on the upper floors. The low-income apartments house people who have few options, he said. He is further limited by a disability, he said.

He said the situation is highlighting a larger problem. "Cloquet needs to do something about housing."

Bruhn said he left a message with Hansen on Wednesday afternoon, stating he would like to see a quick fix by partnering with Economic Development, with a much lower cost to fixing the stairs, for a grant or loan through the city.

Hansen said there is no funding program available for the apartments. Most city grant funding is for businesses, not multifamily residences, she said.

"There is also no loan funding his building qualifies for," she said.

Hansen said the situation at Victory is "ugly" and unfortunate all around. She said the city has worked with Bruhn on any possible routes to change the course of the building. "Our job is to give him all the tools in the toolbox," she said.