'Such a gut punch.' Bronx woman forced into shelter after apartment deemed illegal
For more than 10 years, Karen Mojica quietly lived inside a small apartment at 715 St. Lawrence Ave. with her cats, a place she says she never imagined she would lose.
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A Clason Point woman says her life has been turned upside down after a city investigation determined the apartment she had lived in for more than a decade was illegal — forcing her out of her home and into a shelter while leaving behind the three cats she considers family.
For more than 10 years, Karen Mojica quietly lived inside a small apartment at 715 St. Lawrence Ave. with her cats, a place she says she never imagined she would lose.
“These are my babies,” Mojica said while petting her black cat, Loki, inside her former home.
The Department of Buildings later posted a vacate order on her door after investigators determined the three-family home was legally registered as a two-family property. According to the notice, her apartment was deemed illegal because of unauthorized gas and water lines.
“You think everything is fine, all of a sudden you get blindsided,” she said. “Such a gut punch.”
Mojica says the apartment flew under the radar for years until her landlord died. After experiencing ongoing issues inside the home — including leaks and mold concerns — she reached out to the city for help.
“There was a leak and that leak led up to that,” she said while pointing to visible damage inside the apartment. “You can smell the mold.”
She says the landlord’s daughter, who now owns the property but lives out of state, struggled to address the conditions.
Mojica, a liver transplant survivor currently out of work on disability, says she watched the home she built over the last decade slowly disappear.
On April 2, she was officially forced out and moved into a shelter, where she now shares a kitchen and bathroom with other residents. The shelter does not allow pets, forcing her to leave behind her three cats and return daily to feed them.
Now, Mojica says she is waiting for a Section 8 housing voucher but has no clear timeline for when permanent housing may become available.
News 12 reached out to the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development for an update regarding her housing voucher status but has not yet received a response.
