ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — As many as 72 families are searching for a new home after police went door-to-door Wednesday, telling them to evacuate the Howard Johnson hotel on International Drive.
Tenants and staff, most who have lived there for months, said they received no notice, nor an explanation for why they had to leave.
The water had been off for days but was recently repaired, Travis Wieand explained, adding that the rooms had mold, rat and roach infestations and the WiFi also stopped working.
“We’re going to go back to being homeless, and the city of Orlando basically frowns on that, so we may end up in jail eventually because you can get arrested for being homeless out here,” Weiand said, adding that he was afraid of losing his dogs or risking his diabetic wife’s health.
Weiand added that tenants had just paid their $500 rent to management the day before, in cash at management’s request.
He and other residents said the cash register disappeared – with the rent payments – when management fled Wednesday morning.
“Everybody’s running around crazy because they don’t know what they’re going to do,” Melony Hall, a former housekeeper for the hotel, said.
Originally, the tenants’ deadline to leave was 6 p.m. Wednesday. City of Orlando staff struck a deal with OUC to keep the power and water service on until Monday morning to prevent people from living on the streets, although the building still lacked a working sprinkler system.
A spokeswoman for the city said nonprofit groups would be at the hotel Thursday morning to speak to tenants and try to get them assistance, which could include cash to move.
Weiand set up a GoFundMe to collect enough money to rent a UHaul and move to Brevard County, where he said he had a maintenance job at another hotel lined up, along with a room that came as part of his compensation.
“Just stinks that $500 is gone,” he said. “We’re never going to get it back.”
WFTV reached out to Wyndham’s corporate office to see if company leaders were aware of the closure and of the missing money.
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