The fire that resulted in a loss of electricity at a large St. Paul affordable housing complex displaced far fewer people than initially reported by the building’s owner, nonprofit CommonBond Communities.
A small fire early Sunday at the Skyline Tower in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood broke electrical equipment in the building and knocked the power out. Without electricity, the building is also without heat, elevators, running water or fire alarms, so St. Paul officials declared the building temporarily uninhabitable and ordered an evacuation.
CommonBond Communities said Wednesday that only 773 people had been living in the building, not the 1,500 they reported Monday.
As of Wednesday afternoon, according to CommonBond’s Barbara Koch, 544 residents are still staying in hotels, with the rest staying with friends or family members.
In an email, Koch said CommonBond used the wrong source of data to count residents, with the result being that nearly all residents were double-counted.
