Seniors allowed to return to Halfmoon apartments

PHOTOGRAPHER: Tatiana Zarnowski

Residents of the Bishop Hubbard Senior Apartments moved back into their homes Wednesday, seven weeks after fire destroyed an electrical room at the complex.

Most of the 49 apartments were undamaged in the July 20 fire, but until electricity was restored, people were not allowed to live there. The town of Halfmoon’s code enforcement officer signed off on the building’s occupancy this week, and the 53 residents were allowed to move back in Wednesday afternoon.

Electrical equipment was burned and needed to be replaced after the fire started just before 4 a.m. in a distribution box in a second-floor utility room. Workers also needed to make floor repairs from water damage and roof repairs where firefighters broke a hole for smoke to escape.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany sponsors the apartment building, an affordable housing community where the amount of rent depends on a senior’s income. The building also has a live-in resident assistant.

No one was injured in the fire; residents were evacuated and taken to the Halfmoon Senior Center on Lower Newtown Road and were allowed to retrieve medications and other items during their absence.

After the fire, some of the residents moved in with family or friends, while those who needed housing were split among a few local hotels. DePaul Housing Management, which runs the apartment building, paid $20 a day for residents’ meals while they were in hotels, and most of the residents had renter’s insurance or had the cost of their stay paid by social services.