ORLANDO, Fla. – More than two weeks after the condemnation of an extended stay hotel forced him to leave, a former tenant is still searching for a place to live.
“Extremely desperate,” Travis Wieand said, when asked how he would describe his current situation.
Mike Valente, News 6’s Orlando Community Correspondent, spoke to Wieand Wednesday at a Walmart parking lot in Orlando.
[VIDEO: Orlando enforces evacuation order at Howard Johnson moteo on I-Drive]
With his dogs barking in the background, Wieand motioned to his belongings sitting under a tarp. He and his partner, Nicole Borger, have had to settle for staying in the parking lot since last week.
“Ever since the Howard Johnson closed, it all went downhill,” Wieand said.
The city of Orlando condemned the Howard Johnson by Wyndham last month, citing concerns about the hotel’s ability to safely operate.
News 6 originally met Wieand on the heels of the hotel’s condemnation. He and Borger planned to head to an extended stay hotel in Cocoa Beach, where Wieand was hoping to get a job. The opportunity would come with the option of living there, as well.
But three days after they arrived, Wieand said the job opportunity evaporated.
“Everything came crashing down again,” Wieand said. “We knew we were going to lose everything again.”
That brought Wieand and Borger to the parking lot in Orlando.
When we caught up with Wieand Wednesday, he informed us that Borger was in the hospital after her blood sugar spiked. With no access to housing, Borger was unable to properly store her insulin.
“She’s going to end up going back [to the hospital],” Wieand said, after learning Borger was slated to be released Wednesday. “She can’t keep her insulin cold. She can’t take it.”
When News 6 was there for the closure of Howard Johnson on Aug. 18, we observed homeless service providers connecting with tenants to offer housing accommodations. It is not clear how many of those residents were placed into other extended stay hotels or shelters.
Wieand, though, said he and Borger, along with a handful of others, were not able to receive the same type of help because they did not have proper identification proving Orange County residency.
News 6 contacted the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida Wednesday to inquire about the criteria needed to receive housing assistance. We did not receive a response as of Wednesday evening.