MUNCIE — The Muncie Inn is a small step above homelessness for the people who live there. They now have to find new housing because the city has condemned the building.
Muncie officials posted notices across the inn on Jan. 24 telling residents they had ten days to move out of the complex.
An inspection of the Muncie Inn earlier in the month uncovered issues such as rooms without heat, broken smoke detectors, and serious electrical issues.
"We felt that it was not safe, and the ultimate responsibility is to make sure residents would be safe," said Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour. "This will get these people who are in this temporary situation, who are therefore not eligible for federal or state funding, and put them in the integrated housing system."
Former Muncie Inn resident and manager Barry Stevens said he submitted the tip to the city which led to the damning inspection.
"I was not going to have residents keep living in these conditions," Stevens said. "I saw bedbugs, mice, and drug dealers selling dope on the premises."
The notice to leave caught the Muncie Inn's residents by surprise.
"I had to go in the house and sit down," said Derrick Kelly. "You get the bomb dropped on you with that green thing on the window like that...come on."
"It's just been chaos," added Ryan Brooks. "What are we going to do? Where are we going to go? It's winter."
Even though the move is sudden, the people who live here say the inn needed to improve.
"I had sockets break down that I asked them to fix a bunch of times," Brooks said. "They didn't, so I had to fix it myself."
"I just hope the city forces the owner to sell it and gets a better owner in here that will have everything repaired and done right," Stevens said.
Muncie Inn's owner refused an interview, but told WRTV off-camera he plans to fix all of the building's issues and reopen as soon as he can.
