LEESBURG, Fla. — Leesburg city leaders are on a tight deadline in their efforts to help residents of an apartment complex find a new place to live after the city bought the complex on East Dixie Avenue.
The city wants to tear down the buildings and expand the city’s popular Venetian Gardens Park.
Residents have to be out of the complex by July 1.
Andrea Hancock, 67, has lived at the Venetian Isles apartments for four years.
“We’re safe. We’re quiet. We respect each other. Now it’s all being torn away,” she said.
Hancock has multiple health problems and said she doesn’t have the money to find a new place.
She fears that she will wind up on the streets.
“It’s either going to make me homeless or dead. If I can’t go anywhere, I’m going to have to sit here and let them tear down on top of my head,” Hancock said.
City manager Al Miner said it’s a tough situation, but that the city will do everything it can to help residents.
“We will be working with the tenants to relocate them. We think we have put together a very reasonable plan for relocation,” he said.
That plan includes helping residents apply for a county program that provides subsidies for rental properties.
The city will also offer residents who move out in April a refund of two months’ rent.
Also, instead of 60 days’ notice, the city is giving residents at least four months’ notice that they have to move.