Michael Hodges and his family are staying at the Red Roof Inn in New London, having been evicted from their apartment in public housing this week.

A woman who works at the front desk at the Colman Street motel took up a collection among her friends to help, but in two days the family will have to find somewhere else to live. Hodges said he would not be able to pay the $55-a-night rate.

”This is madness,” Hodges said in a phone interview from the hotel Wednesday afternoon. He said he was following a lead for an affordable apartment in New London, where his 8-year-old son attends school, and is still looking for a job.

”There's no work out there,” he said. Hodges said he has been unable to find a construction job, so he has been taking odd jobs like shoveling snow.

The 49-year-old New London native had failed to divulge on the couple's application to the New London Housing Authority that he had been convicted in 1992 of selling cocaine, a felony. The couple moved into a three-bedroom apartment at the Bates Woods housing complex on Boulder Drive in May, and in July the housing authority started eviction proceedings for filing a fraudulent application.

While their eviction was pending, they fell behind on their $350 a month rent. They signed a stipulated agreement to pay back rent and legal fees associated with the eviction, but then attempted, unsuccessfully, to amend the agreement when they were unable to make the payments.

Norwich attorney Robert Zarnetske took on the case for free last week and filed a motion for a court hearing to stop the eviction. A judge denied the appeal.

Hodges, his partner Rachelle Andrews and their son Marcus went to the Red Roof Inn on Tuesday after putting their furniture and other belongings into storage. Andrews' daughter from another relationship is living with her father.

Joyce Jones, front desk operator at the inn, said she felt bad and called “a few of the girls” to get some money together.

”I thought it was pretty unfair, the story he told me,” Jones said. “If this (the drug-dealing conviction) happened 16 years ago and he's been clean since then, what is rehabilitation for?”

The head of the New London Housing Authority said people convicted of felony crimes are allowed to live in public housing as soon as three years after their convictions, depending on the severity of the case. But lying on a housing application is grounds for eviction, and so is nonpayment of rent.

Jacqueline Caron, a former Norwich alderwoman who heads up the Connecticut Pardon Team, said she has been working with Zarnetske, the attorney, to find a shelter. Because it is winter, all of the local shelters are full, she said.

”If I had the room, I would help this family, honest to God,” she said. “If they don't have a place to go with the kid, somebody should step up until they find a place to stay.”

Caron, a longtime champion for giving people a second chance, said she and her two children were evicted from a Norwich apartment in the mid-1980s. People who had been evicted were given priority, she said. Eventually she got back on her feet, received a pardon for a felony conviction and went on to a successful career in politics.

”Here we are in an economic downturn, talking about change as a nation, and nobody can get together to help two people?”

A few people contacted Hodges after reading about his plight in The Day, but the family, which is currently living on $576 a month that Andrews collects in state assistance and food stamps, could not afford the rents they were offering. Andrews, a former nurse's aide, is ill and says she is unable to work.

Hodges had worked as a maintenance man for Jose Guzman, a loan officer who is awaiting sentencing for falsifying about 200 mortgage applications in the New London area. Hodges and Andrews also bought a home with Guzman's help but lost it to foreclosure when they could not pay the $2,400 a month mortgage. Guzman had promised to help them with the mortgage but never did so, Hodges said.

Now Hodges is worried about his son, who he said is doing well in the bilingual program at New London's Jennings school.

”My job as a parent is to provide for my child and his mother,” he said.

K.FLORIN@THEDAY.COM

Editor's note: Michael Hodges and Rachelle Andrews have been living on $576 a month that Andrews collects in state assistance and food stamps. A story that ran Thursday, January 8, on page C1 had incorrect information on how often the assistance comes in.

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