Photos by Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times

Family members Safia Mdame (from left), Olivia Warsame and Abdikadir Ali listen to Amy Nasta, coordinator of Virginia Tech's Pilot Street Program, talk about an e-mail at their apartment in Roanoke. Nasta's nonprofit group helps educate refugees.

The Lansdowne Park home of Somali-Bantu refugees Abdikadir Ali and Safia Mdame is decorated with tapestries and materials hanging from the ceiling.

The 60 or so Somali-Bantu refugees who lived in a Northwest Roanoke apartment complex that was plagued by ethnic tensions earlier this year have moved to rental housing elsewhere in the city or left town for jobs in other states.

About half of the former residents of Maple Grove Apartments now live in Lansdowne Park apartments, about two miles from their former homes. Their Lansdowne units are rent-subsidized and owned by the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority.

Glenda Edwards, executive director of the agency, said the Somali-Bantus have been "great tenants" at Lansdowne. She said the property manager reported there haven't been any problems with the immigrants in that location.

"They're doing very well, working and thriving," said Amy Nasta, coordinator of Virginia Tech's Pilot Street Program, a nonprofit refugee education effort that had rented an apartment at Maple Grove but relocated after violence broke out there in March.

The Pilot Street Program still provides "survival" classes focused on the cultural transition into the U.S. society and economy to some of the Somali-Bantus in their apartments.

Nasta said the program also teaches Burundi and Liberian refugees at other Roanoke apartment complexes that provide rent-free classroom space.

Her program was paying rent at the privately owned Maple Grove units, five of which were condemned for a period by city code inspectors because of blighted conditions. They have since been repaired.

Maple Grove was the scene of divisive relations between the Somali-Bantus and American-born blacks who were also residents there. The dissension erupted into rock-throwing that broke windows, with both sides blaming each other.

The blighted conditions at Maple Grove, which included mold-ridden drywall, exposed electrical wiring and roach infestation, contributed to dissatisfaction that boiled over into anger, residents said. City inspectors cited the apartments after an article in the Roanoke Times detailed conditions there.

A few weeks later, inspectors said, the 100-plus code violations were corrected by the owner, Dr. George Abraham, a Roanoke allergist.

Beth Lutjen, director of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond's Refugee and Immigration Services, which places families from Africa and elsewhere in area apartments, has said her organization no longer seeks units at Maple Grove.

The disruptions at Maple Grove have had a lingering influence on the remaining Somali-Bantu population in Roanoke. Nasta said they're forming a support group that has asked for help from Virginia Tech to get started.