Tenants allowed to stay for now

Penn Hills officials still urge residents to find new homes

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tenants who had been ordered to move from a Penn Hills apartment complex by Thursday have been given a temporary reprieve: With water service restored to two buildings and electricity and a fire alarm system back in the buildings’ common areas, Penn Hills municipal officials will allow residents to remain while they continue to search for a new place to live.

Still, “we are encouraging those other tenants to look for other housing,” said Penn Hills manager Scott Andrejchak. He estimated that residents of 16 to 25 households were still there as of Thursday.

Tenants of Valmar Gardens on Robinson Boulevard had been ordered to leave last week, with notices from municipal officials saying the buildings did not “possess the minimum standards and safeguards for safe living space.”

One of the apartment buildings had been without water since Sept. 10, and two other buildings had been without water since Sept. 13. WilkinsburgPenn Joint Water Authority officials said service was shut off because the property owner failed to have a required backflow-prevention inspection.

Water service was restored late Wednesday to two of the three occupied buildings following an order from a judge. It couldn’t be restored to the third building because pipes had been removed.

Mr. Andrejchak said two residents live in the building that doesn’t have water, and efforts were underway to house them temporarily in units in one of the buildings with water. Electricity was restored Thursday morning to the common areas, and that restored the fire alarm system.

Mr. Andrejchak emphasized