- The city closed the Legacy Crossing apartments in December of 2022 due to safety concerns.
- Kaitlyn Gloe, a mother of 3, along with hundreds of other residents were forced to quickly move out of their apartments, the week before Christmas.
- Kaitlyn is now happy in a new home with her family, excited to enjoy the holidays with her kids.
- The video shows Kaitlyn and others moving out last year in bitterly cold temperatures with snow and ice on the ground.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It was days before Christmas and bitterly cold outside when residents faced an unimaginable reality. On December 19, 2022 - hundreds were forced out of the Legacy Crossing apartments with no notice, saying they were unsafe to live in.
Ice and snow blanketed the sidewalks, it was a race against an incoming winter storm to get all belongings out.
"I didn't have like any words, I was just, couldn't believe it,” said Kaitlyn Gloe, "I was scrambling, I was like well what am I going to do with the kids during this time, I have to work. How am I going to get this all done.”
Kaitlyn Gloe had been living at Legacy Crossing with her three kids for about 8 months, when she and hundreds of others got a knock on the door, told they had to leave.
She spent all day, for 5 days moving her kid’s toys, the washer and dryer – everything. All her belongings in a U-Haul and packed into a storage unit.
"It was very traumatizing and it's something that I still think about to this day," Gloe said. "I really wish that company would have done better by the people who lived there, because no one deserved that."
And while processing it herself, she had to find a way to tell her kids they wouldn't be going back to the place they called home.
“That was really hard, um I had told them that they were making us move, that the city was making us move because it was unsafe,” Gloe said.
And she says the questions still come.
“My kids always ask, you know, oh they changed the siding, mom the color is different or can we go back there, I miss our old house,” Gloe said.
According to Heartland Family Service, 159 households had to leave, and Heartland Family Service helped 97 percent of those find new housing in the community. It helped with deposits and first month's rent for many.
Kaitlyn said the Legacy Crossing community remains close.
“The people there were amazing, I could not have asked for better neighbors or people to enjoy that time with, they definitely are a community and I hope they are all doing well,” Gloe said.
But she says despite its re-opening, she won't move back.
Reflecting on the past year, she's grateful to be where she is now. She moved to the new apartment in January after weeks with her parents.
“I am so happy to be in a healthy environment and know that we are safe,” Gloe said.
Now just days away from spending Christmas with her kids at home.
“We are going to wake up on Christmas morning and open presents and see what Santa brought in the stockings, because they will actually be where they should be this year,” Gloe said.
The Legacy Crossing Apartments are now called Highpoint and are now leasing under new ownership.
