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SALT LAKE CITY -- A disagreement between the Salt Lake Redevelopment Agency and residents of a downtown building is coming to a head.
Residents of the Regis Hotel are being evicted because the city says the building isn't sanitary or safe. Still, those residents say it's their home.
"When this place closes: no job, no home," says Candi Nunamaker.
She has lived in the Regis Hotel for six years. With no source of income, she cleans the building's hallways and bathrooms to pay rent. It's that, and the sense of community, that makes it her home.
"If one of us doesn't have any food, another will come up and say, ‘I'm cooking dinner tonight. Do you want any?'" Nunamaker says.
But on March 9, Nunamaker and the remaining 24 residents will no longer be allowed to live at the Regis.
The Salt Lake City Redevelopment Agency, run by the Salt Lake City Council, is working to remodel the building, which has fallen in severe disrepair. The agency has plans to turn the Regis and several other buildings on the block into a mix of business and low-income housing.
However, there's no set start date, and Crossroads Urban Center Housing Project Director Tim Funk feels the city is jumping the gun without enough acceptable alternatives.
"They'll be out on the streets if the city council proceeds," Funk says.
But officials at the redevelopment agency tell a different story. They say there are multiple rooms at both Palmer Court and the Rio Grande Hotel.
"I'm surprised they want to stay in a place with cockroaches and bed bugs when they can come to a very beautiful place and get their life in order," says Salt Lake City Councilman Van Blair Turner.
Turner works with the agency and says it's willing to work with people like Nunamaker, who work to pay rent, as well as those with criminal backgrounds.
"If they work with the system, they'll find a solution," Tuner says.
Residents will hold a press conference and present their signed letter to the redevelopment agency Wednesday morning at 10:30.
E-mail: sdallof@ksl.com
