BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — On June 12, the Village Court North apartments in Bowling Green caught on fire, damaging 18 different apartments and displacing the people inside. Now they're staying on Bowling Green's campus for the next 10 days.
In the weeks since the fire forced people to evacuate, many who used to live here have found temporary housing, whether with family or in some cases provided by Bowling Green State University.
But one person who used to live there reached out to WTOL 11 and said that for 13 residents, their time in their temporary housing is running out.
"I see complete devastation. My life is gone," Gary Deleon said Tuesday when he returned for a look at the burnt remains of the building he used to call home.
A little under a month before, he and 17 others were left homeless after a massive blaze. Now, their ash-covered possessions sit in a dumpster outside.
"My apartment was a total loss," Deleon said. "I wasn't even able to go back in."
Before the fire, BG designated Village Court North as a HUD housing project run by the non-profit Harbor for people living on fixed and low incomes.
While Deleon has temporarily moved in with his cousin in Defiance, he said because of their lack of resources, many of his neighbors have been struggling to find a place to stay.
To try to address this, Harbor teamed up with BGSU to temporarily house the remaining displaced, some 13 people, in the Greek life housing on campus with women living on the right side and men living on the left, but that comes to an end on July 19.
According to a BGSU representative, the housing was always expected to be temporary. The deadline was set to allow the university to begin prepping its living spaces for the school year.
WTOL 11 spoke to a woman living inside the building who said she knows she's running out of time, but she's unsure if she or the others living with her will be able to find an apartment in less than two weeks.
She said some residents have physical and mental challenges to overcome as each individual searches for housing. Both she and Deleon agreed despite having meetings with Harbor as recently as Monday. They feel there's been a lack of support to help them find a more permanent home.
"I just think Harbor needs to step up and tell these people when we're getting our money back, what kind of help is there in the future after the 19th, and will these people end up on the streets of Bowling Green?" said Deleon.
WTOL 11 reached out to Harbor and even visited their Bowling Green office, but no one made themselves available for an interview.