New London - For Anna Gonzalez, who was staying at the Red Roof Inn for the third night in a row Monday, the feeling of displacement was all too familiar.

Gonzalez was one of 22 residents displaced when the roof of the storefront and apartment building at 575 Bank St. partially collapsed over the weekend.

She had also been one of the victims of the Parkside West apartments fire on Willetts Avenue last March, when she lost everything she owned.

"I just want to go home," Gonzalez said Monday while sitting in her neighbor and friend Mary Jones' room at the motel.

The flat-roofed brick building on Bank Street remained condemned Monday after a 6-by-8-foot section of the roof sagged, causing a leak into one of the apartments, Building Inspector Jack Cipriano said.

A portion of Bank Street between Howard and Shaw streets reopened about 11 a.m. Monday, but businesses on the first floor and tenants in apartments above remained locked out because the building is not structurally sound.

Gonzalez had had a tough couple of days - first the roof issues, then on Sunday a slip on some black ice outside her room in which she hit her head on the pavement. Today Gonzalez will have to figure out where she'll go next, as Monday night was the last day her stay at the inn was paid for.

"Today is her last day, and tomorrow's another story," said Gonzalez's boyfriend, Joe Ortiz.

Jones, who is diabetic and on dialysis, said she was getting help from social workers and from Sound Community Services because of her medical issues and bipolar disorder diagnosis. Sound Community social workers are helping her find permanent housing, she said, and the building owner, Simon Balian of Darien, has promised to pay for her stay at the motel until she finds permanent housing.

Balian confirmed that Monday. He said he was able to reach some of his residents Monday but didn't say whether he would pay for other residents' alternative housing as well.

"Everybody will be compensated in due course," Balian said. "But right now I can't give you any specific information."

Balian, who is part owner of the building under the name Midin LLC, took over managing the Bank Street apartments this month, he said.

Sitting on her bed with her fiance, Quentin Hamm, and her dog, Sky, by her side, Jones said she felt fortunate for all the help she's gotten. "It's inconvenient, but I'm OK," she said. "I'm all right with it because they're doing everything they can for me."

Jones said she felt bad for Gonzalez, who had no social agencies to help her out. "If you're on your own, basically you're screwed," she said.

Because water is leaking on the wall adjacent to Hunter's Ambulance, located next door at 595 Bank St., that building has also been evacuated as a precaution. Cipriano said if water in the bricks freezes, the bricks could pop out, causing the wall to collapse and endangering the ambulance building.

The apartment building will not be open until after a contractor gets inside to tear down the walls in the apartment that is leaking and dry it out, he said, adding that another structural analysis will be done to make sure the building is safe before tenants will be allowed back in.

"When that will happen, I don't know,'' Cipriano said. The owner of the building and his insurance company are working on hiring a contractor, he added.

Gary Parks, supervisor at Hunter's Ambulance Service Inc., said he has set up a makeshift office in his car in a parking lot across Bank Street at Shaw's Cove Six office building. The company's 10 wheelchair-accessible vans and an ambulance are being dispatched from the parking lot.

"At least it's not freezing out,'' Parks said Monday afternoon as some of his 14 employees began returning vehicles to the lot. The company goes out on about 100 calls a day, he said, mostly bringing patients at nursing homes to various appointments.

He said he was told it would be several weeks before workers would be allowed back into the building.

The ambulance company, which is headquartered in Meriden, is looking for a temporary office, Parks said.

j.cho@theday.com

k.edgecomb@theday.com