Photo

More than 50 people, including 33 children enrolled in Vancouver Public Schools, got notices Tuesday to vacate their homes at Ghim Village, a low-income townhouse complex in Hazel Dell.

Residents have to leave the complex by the end of the day on Sept. 30, leaving them 22 days to secure new housing in a tight rental market.

The notice came from the same property management company that took over Courtyard Village Apartments last winter. The company, Seattle-based Madrona Ridge Residential, did not reply to requests for comment Wednesday. Tenants at Courtyard Village Apartments around Christmas last year got 20-day notices, the legal minimum. The complex, much larger than Ghim Village, resulted in hundreds of displaced tenants who struggled to find affordable alternatives.

Residents at Ghim Village are worried their experience will be the same.

“I was very devastated, actually,” said Connie Kiemele, who lives there with her husband and three children. “I didn’t see it coming. I was totally blindsided.”

The 36-year-old found the notice taped to her front door Tuesday.

Residents at Ghim Village, 1304 N.E. 88th St., were notified earlier in the summer that new owners and managers were taking over the complex to renovate the units and presumably increase rent, Kiemele said. Residents were worried, wondering whether the same companies that handled Courtyard Village would handle Ghim Village the same way, leaving many people homeless.