Harbour Point resident reacts to unexpected rent increase

Donna Vito was one of the many residents at Harbour Point who had to evacuate after Troy code enforcers deemed the building too dangerous.

Initially, Vito felt the apartment owners were supportive as they paid for tenants to stay at a motel. After staying in the motel for more than 50 days, Vito said she and her neighbor she cares for were then kicked out of the motel because a state law places limits on long-term stays.

They returned to Harbour Point to find that they will have to pay more in rent.

Since their apartments aren’t ready for move in yet, Donna and her neighbor are living together right now in a two bedroom apartment within the complex. “We paid our rent every month, they’re charging us for a two-bedroom, she said, out of good faith, you wouldn’t think they would do that right away to people that are not even in their apartment yet.”

Vito says their temporary apartment is not secure. She says the windows don’t have locks or screens. There’s cracks in the floor. She says he’s sleeping on an air mattress and her neighbor is sleeping on a reclining chair.

“So after that coming home, seeing the rent increase going into an apartment that doesn’t have a bed, doesn’t have anything, I think that rate increase is what put me over the edge,” she said.

And she feels like management has just left them to figure everything out on their own. “They’re trying to take additional money from people that are on a fixed income that’s totally unfair they should be giving us money back,” she said.

Vito says they’re supposed to be back in their apartment Oct. 1.

NewsChannel 13 reached out to management for comment, but they were not available on Tuesday.