HOLYOKE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Tenants displaced from a condemned apartment building in Holyoke are still unhoused nearly a month later.

They held a press conference Tuesday afternoon, calling for accountability from the property’s owners.

On May 11, the building was condemned due to serious health and safety concerns. City officials say it has multiple life-safety violations, including a gas leak, unsafe electrical work, plumbing problems, non-functioning fire protection systems and illegal apartment conversions.

Tenants and advocates say the building’s owners have failed to meet their legal responsibility to rehouse residents after the building was condemned.

Carolyn Holmes rents from the owners, Karaj and Pooja Verma, at a property in Orange. She calls it a pattern of predatory landlord practices and wants local and state officials to strengthen enforcement and tenant protections.

“At some point after pooja’s taken care of we need to investigate why was she even allowed to do this in the first place to so many people,” she said. “She is preying on people who are the lowest members of society, whether that be immigrants or people with housing insecurities, because she knows they are either too afraid to speak up or don’t know how to speak up.”

Holyoke tenants say they have been forced to take legal action to recover hotel costs from the Vermas and are still waiting for a clear plan for repairs or a timeline for returning home.

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