BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Some residents of a Bellingham apartment complex are fuming after they were made homeless by a back-up of raw sewage.
Jennifer Neustedt says she was at work last week when she got a call from the manager of the Meadows by Vintage apartments in the Cordata neighborhood.
“He tells me when I drove up, I’m going to have a meeting with him, that by the way, your apartment is a complete loss, it’s uninhabitable, you’re not going to be able to live there,” says Neustedt. “I’m like, from water? And he’s like, oh it was sewage.”
She says at least six apartments on the main floor were flooded with sewage.
The owner of the building claimed it was a city problem but the city says that’s not the case and no other properties in the area were affected.
Neustedt says most of their belongings are a total loss and they and some of their neighbors have started GoFundMe campaigns to help pay for hotel rooms and other expenses.
“I mainly set it up so we can get some help and anything I get over $3000 I’m donating to the other families that were affected by this situation,” says Neustedt.
She says that, so far, the building owner hasn’t assumed any responsibility for the damage or expenses.
KGMI has reached out to building management but haven’t heard back.
Neustedt says she’s trying to see the humor in it all.
“Got to have some kind of humor in the crappy world that we live in,” says Neustedt.
The GoFundMe pages for the affected families can be accessed here, here and here.