Cameron Village apartment tenants have been living without power for almost a month

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- People paying to live near Raleigh's Cameron Village have not been able to go home for three weeks while the power has been out in several units of Oberlin Court Apartments.

Tenants told ABC11 they have had to scramble to find housing while the complex's management has kept them in the dark about what went wrong, how long it will take to repair and where they can live in the meantime.

One tenant, who has lived at Oberlin Court for several years, paying $1,300 a month in rent, spoke with ABC11 outside of another Greystar property in North Raleigh where she has bunked up with her neighbor, also displaced from Oberlin Court.

She didn't want to be identified, but said the pair has to be out of their temporary apartment by the weekend and Oberlin Court turned down their request to move into one of the vacant units that has power.

"We were told legally, they can't because we would become squatters," she said. "So it made me feel like a second class-citizen."

The tenant said the power went out the evening of August 29.

"(I) went outside and there was all this smoke," she said. "It sounded like a truck hit something."

Ever since then, she said 44 units have been without power.

Oberlin Court Apartments would not confirm the number of units affected, but sent the following statement to ABC11 on Thursday:

We recognize and share in the concerns of our residents. We have been working diligently to remediate the situation and have been keeping our residents informed. As background, there was a failure to the main breaker in the building that has caused a power outage to a portion of apartments. Due to the complexity of the issue and the custom fabrication of the electrical components, it is taking longer to complete the needed repairs than originally anticipated. We expect that power will be restored next week and we are working to secure a block of hotel rooms for the affected residents to stay in until the situation is fully resolved. Additionally, residents will be receiving a rent credit for the days they were without power and will be reimbursed for any hotel expenses to date.

Oberlin Court Apartments management said they expect the power will be restored sometime next week.