People living at a Midtown apartment complex say they are dealing with what they believe are unsafe living conditions, including fungus and mold growth inside their homes.
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Some tenants at Midtown Village Apartments say they are immunocompromised and believe the conditions are contributing to ongoing health problems.
“This is very bad. It’s not fit for humans,” one tenant said.
Several tenants who spoke with Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers did not want to show their faces because they said they were concerned about possible retaliation.
They shared videos and photos showing what they described as fungus or mold growth on doors, in bathrooms, on air conditioning units, above showers, in kitchens, inside walls and on personal belongings.
“Just from me cleaning, finding mold behind the dresser, finding mold in the air units,” one tenant said.
Another tenant said he has already had to move between units while waiting for repairs.
“This is my third unit being in. This just temporary though until they get the other unit fixed. But this is like mold is all in these everywhere. Even in the boiler room,” he said.
Some tenants say they have experienced health problems while living at the complex.
Some tenants living at the complex are immunocompromised.
“I still having the problem. I can’t breathe or whatever. I’m still going to the hospital,” one tenant said.
He said he keeps an inhaler nearby and conducted his own testing, which he said showed different types of fungi in his unit.
“This is $800 a month, and that’s the only thing I could pay right now. I would have been moved because I can’t stay here,” he said.
The property is operated by the Healthy Housing Foundation, which provides affordable workforce housing.
Management allowed Channel 2 Action News to tour the property and showed us one unit that was undergoing mold remediation, as well as another unit where work had recently been completed.
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“We’ve owned the property for a couple of years, and there were some issues that we adopted,” said Imara Canady with the Healthy Housing Foundation.
Canady said management is working directly with a contractor that handles mold remediation.
“With the issues that have come up around mold, we have been directly working with the contracting company who handles mold remediation to make sure these issues are handled and completed in a timely manner,” Canady said.
Management told Channel 2 Action News tenants need to submit work orders when they have issues in their units.
Canady also said management recently sent a letter to tenants reminding them to keep their air conditioning units above a certain temperature.
“A number of them have been keeping their air conditioning unit at a very low thermostat level all day long,” Canady said. “It will create condensation which creates moisture, which leads to mold, so we have now talked to our tenants, and put something in writing.”
Tenants, however, say they want management to determine whether there is a larger issue affecting the building.
“If they could really look into changing the filtering system, if that means putting windows in there, so people can lift them up and down, and really try to find out the issue,” one tenant said.
Canady said management is now conducting a unit-by-unit examination to determine whether there is a larger problem.
“Every three months, our leadership team does a top to bottom inspection to just kind of check out what’s going on,” Canady said. “It is not often just easily seen, so we are in the process of working with the contractual mold remediation company we work with to do a unit-by-unit examination. If there is a larger issue that we’re not aware of, that we can address that issue in a timely manner, and if there’s not, we can look at what’s going on in a case-by-case basis.”
Rogers also checked with code enforcement, which has three open cases at the property and five cases that have been closed after compliance.
One of the reports involved a bathroom with inadequate ventilation.
One tenant also showed Rogers paperwork indicating he has a code enforcement court date scheduled for next month.
The Healthy Housing Foundation said it is continuing to work through reported issues at the property and with tenants as remediation efforts continue.
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