City shuts down illegal housing complex
L&I had cited the property in North Philly last year after a fatal fire.
AN ILLEGAL housing complex was evacuated last night in North Philadelphia, city officials said.
The city's Department of Licenses and Inspections had issued "numerous fire-safety and property-management violations" to the owner of the building, located on 22nd Street near Toronto, after one of its residents died in a fire there last year, Carlton Williams, the head of L&I, said last night.
Its owner, listed in city records as the Alliance of Youth Ministries, failed to address those citations, Williams said, which later lead to L&I issuing a "cease operations" order, barring people from occupying it.
However, L&I was notified Thursday by PECO that someone within the property was using an illegal hookup to steal power.
When city workers investigated, they found people living inside the building, operated as the "Dillard House," a home for disabled veterans, according to a statement from mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald.
Yesterday, a city judge ordered the building evacuated, and its 25 occupants were moved to Dobbins Career and Technical Education High School, on Lehigh Avenue near 22nd Street, McDonald said.
After it was cleared, the building was sealed off by L&I as it continues to investigate, Williams said.
- Vinny Vella