MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Just one week after the court-ordered deadline for Serenity Towers residents to be out and the building to be closed, some seniors are still living there.

As of Wednesday, 11 residents were still at the troubled Serenity Towers.

“Move-out day was technically supposed to be last Friday, and so we extended that,” said City of Memphis Special Attorney Carlissa Shaw.

The new deadline was moved to May 30.

In Environmental Court on Thursday morning, Shaw told the judge that one person is a market-rate tenant and the other 10 are all subsidized. She says the market-rate tenant is in the process of moving into a temporary home until they can find permanent housing.

Shaw says out of the 10 subsidized tenants, four have found new homes with the assistance of HUD and the Memphis Housing Authority and are in the final stages of moving out. The remaining six have not found a new home and will be placed in temporary housing.

“We’re all working as a team to make sure they’re not just being temporarily housed and forgotten about, but making sure that they maintain their HUD vouchers and make sure they find somewhere safe and long-term to go,” Shaw said.

Shaw says she’s been in communication with the remaining tenants and says some didn’t believe the building was closing.

“When we think about elderly populations, we think about populations who have some type of subsidized assistance. It becomes just more difficult. Difficult physically, moving their items, and also difficult mentally and emotionally,” she said.

We have followed this development for years, and now it’s the end of a chapter for the troubled high-rise, but the beginning of a new chapter for former residents.

We talked with residents as they moved out last week. They said bed bugs, broken AC, downed elevators, and constant calls to police are now a thing of the past.

“I’m tryna get up out of here. I’m so happy,” said tenant Marcus Garland. “Serenity Towers, they did some low-down stuff. How they did it and how they did people. They wouldn’t fix anything. They had critters and bed bugs running everywhere.”

The closure comes months after a judge deemed the troubled property a chronic public nuisance.

In court, it was revealed that all tenants must be relocated to temporary or permanent housing by June 1. Once the property is empty, the city will begin the process of attempting to sell it.

“Hopefully, the judge would grant our request. The purpose of that is trying to recoup the tax dollars that were spent during that process,” said Shaw.

All parties will be back in court for an update on June 10 at 9 a.m.