BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It's been just over three months since the remaining residents in the Shoreline Apartments were given a reprieve from vacating their apartments.
Some of them say the way developer Norstar handled the project has left a bad taste in their mouths.
"...It was very difficult. And what they did and the way they treated them was very bad due to the fact that they only gave them so much time and then only $350 to move out," said resident Sheila Linares.
"People have children, disabled people, elderly people. It's hard. Everybody doesn't have people to help them move. They come to you at different times, and it's just unfair. It's ridiculous," said a resident named Diamond.
But Shoreline residents are not the only ones angered.
"Shoreline is a perfect example of gentrification and people getting displaced," said Christian Parra, of PUSH Buffalo.
Parra says what's happening at Shoreline is happening in many other places.
"They have nowhere to go. And how do we actually get to the point of fighting to make sure that people understand that inclusionary zoning is very important, so that every development that happens in Buffalo actually is affordable-housing-included. It includes people that are forgotten," said Parra.
Buffalo Common Council Member David Franczyk says the council criticized Norstar's handling of the project last year
"You had a foreign company, Norstar, that didn't know how to treat people with respect, and they didn't," said Franczyk.
While the state has more power to hold Norstar accountable, he says the city may amend its Green Code for inclusionary zoning, which guarantees a certain number of new housing units will be made affordable to those with lower incomes.
"We can put in the law that people can't be discriminated against and kicked out of their apartments and everyone's got a diversity of ethnicity and income, that people have a right to live where they want to live," said Franczyk.