Desiree Velarde has been bouncing between houses since June 19.
Sometimes, she drives the nearly 70 miles to her daughters’ apartment complex in Las Vegas. Other times, she stays with friends and checks in on her own apartment in Santa Fe, where the smell of smoke still lingers like incense.
Her unit at the affordable Sangre de Cristo complex wasn’t visibly damaged by the fire that broke out last month, Velarde said, but she is one of eight tenants who remains displaced in its aftermath.
“I feel like a ping-pong ball,” Velarde said. “And it’s very uncomfortable.”
Velarde, other residents and advocates delivered a letter of demands Thursday to JL Gray Co., the property management company and developer that assumed ownership of the complex in 2023. Many tenants said they are frustrated by a lack of communication and transparency from the company — and the corresponding uncertainty about what will happen next.
“This has been a really stressful thing — emotionally, mentally, physically,” Velarde said. “I’m drained. I’m tired, I really am. And I just hope that we get a break soon.”
Jeff Curry, JL Gray Co. director of development, said in an interview Thursday the delay is a result of an ongoing investigation by the complex’s insurance company.
“We are working as fast as we possibly can, but the building has not been released back to us by our insurance company,” Curry said.
Fire, aftermath
Santa Fe police responded to help firefighters with a report of a possible structure fire at about 7 p.m. June 19 at the complex on Espinacitas Street off St. Michael’s Drive{, according to interim police Chief Ben Valdez. When they arrived, officers saw smoke coming from the roof of Building C and helped evacuate it.
“When the fire department came, they told us we had to leave — didn’t tell us where we were going, what they were going to do or anything,” said Maria de Leon, another displaced tenant. “So, I was basically put out, and, having nowhere to go, no family here, struggled to find a place.”
There were no documented injuries as a result of the fire, Valdez wrote in an email.
Four apartments were directly affected, but asbestos was additionally discovered in the eight units that remain evacuated, city spokesperson Peter Olson previously told The New Mexican.
Although Olson said the fire was accidental, Curry said JL Gray Co.’s insurance provider is still working on its own inquiry.
Lily Alexander/The New Mexican
“We’re not sure what they’re going to discover,” he added. “But they want to know the source so that they can go back and recoup whatever they need to recoup.”
The city has also required the company to provide reports by certified engineers for all the systems in the building to determine whether they’re safe and what work they may need, Curry said.
There is likely encapsulated asbestos in the glue under the floors of the building, he said, describing it as a “pretty typical” find when rehabilitating buildings. An asbestos company will abate it if it is discovered, he said.
Asked if the potential encapsulated asbestos poses any health risks for tenants, Curry said: “I would live there, no problem.”
“Typically, encapsulated asbestos is safe,” he said. “It’s not where anyone can reach it or touch it.”
Multiple displaced tenants said they had not received any communication from JL Gray Co. about asbestos concerns — instead learning about it from an article in The New Mexican. This, they said, they see as a pattern of silence from the company about a situation that has virtually upended their lives.
“None of us are clear what’s going to happen,” Velarde said.
‘More money than I have’
Over the past month, de Leon has been staying in hotels or with her boyfriend’s family. The cost of lodging — plus the cost of a storage unit for her belongings, which tenants were told to remove — adds up, she said.
She lives on a fixed income and has already overdrawn her bank account multiple times, she added.
“I only live from paycheck to paycheck — my Social Security,” de Leon said. “And I’m spending more money than I have.”
Curry indicated rent concessions are the only financial assistance the company can offer displaced tenants, who do not have to pay rent while they aren’t occupying their units.
“Anything else beyond that, the tenants would have to rely on any insurance that they had for additional support,” Curry said. “And I would push them to reach out to local services for help.”
Tenants at the Sangre de Cristo apartments are not required to have renters insurance, he said, but when signing a lease must state whether they want it.
Lily Alexander/The New Mexican
The complex has 164 units total, spanning one to four bedrooms.
The demand letter was submitted collectively by the displaced tenant group dubbed the Sangre de Cristo Tenant Committee, which was organized by the workers rights nonprofit Chainbreaker Collective. It asks for reimbursement for losses, expenses and damages resulting from the fire.
“The committee is willing to work collaboratively with management to determine a fair and accurate accounting of these costs, and requests that management propose a process and timeline for residents to submit documentation of their losses,” the letter reads.
Curry said he was not yet aware of the demand letter at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday.
When tenants were initially displaced, the city connected them with the Red Cross, Olson wrote in an email.
Resources, needs
For the three displaced in-laws of Camerina Treto, that assistance amounted to a one-time $500 payment, Treto said.
“If we think about motels — the cheapest motel — for three adults, $500 is nothing,” she said. “Not even three days. Because we’re talking about rooms, food and everything.”
Treto has been housing her in-laws — two of whom are elderly and one of whom has cerebral palsy — in her living room. None of her in-laws speak English, which is part of what inspired Treto to get involved with Chainbreaker’s advocacy on their behalf.
“It’s been stressful,” she said. “And because I love them, I will do anything supportive, but I work, also. So then I work, and I go home, and I try to support them with these meetings.”
The group of tenants and advocates gathered outside Building C — still littered with signs that read “DANGER” and yellow caution tape — before delivering the demand letter Thursday. In remarks live-streamed to Facebook, Chainbreaker community organizer Yetzali Reyna Aguilar said the displaced residents have sustained upward of $20,000 in losses and unexpected costs.
After the fire, the eight tenants were directed to the joint city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County CONNECT program, which helps link people to health, housing and social services.
That program is helping cover the costs of Velarde’s storage unit through November, she said.
Next steps
The demand letter states JL Gray Co. has seven days from Thursday to respond before the tenant committee takes “further action.”
The timeline for tenants returning to their units, meanwhile, remains unclear.
“I honestly wish I knew,” Curry said. “I know this is incredibly frustrating. It’s frustrating for us, too, but it’s even more frustrating for the tenants that are displaced. But we simply don’t have a clue.”
Although some residents said they’ve heard talk of demolition, Curry said the plan is to remodel the existing building. The city will determine the level of rehabilitation necessary, he said.
Treto said her in-laws wish to stay at the complex. But, she said, she fears retaliation or the possibility they won’t be given a unit.
“They were making money out of them, so they should have a responsibility for them,” Treto said of JL Gray Co.
She said she hopes the demand letter encourages greater transparency.
“It’s very concerning, because we’re talking about people,” Treto said. “We’re talking about lives.”
