Seniors Cope With Leaks

Hooked up to both oxygen and a medical nebulizer to help him breathe, 70-year-old Marcus Thomas pointed up at the ​“life or death emergency” above his bed — what appeared to be mold growing on the ceiling.

Thomas (pictured above speaking with Newhallville Alderwoman Delphine Clyburn) sat in a wheelchair in his first-floor apartment at the Constance Baker Motley building on Sherman Parkway, a complex for elderly and disabled people run by the housing authority. Two red buckets sat on the floor by the head of his bed, ready to catch water dripping from the ceiling.

Thomas said he has complained to the housing authority for months about the mold and the dripping water — in vain. He said the mold is compromising his already diseased respiratory system.

Other tenants in the building echoed some of Thomas’ complaints. They pointed out creeping water damage and black mold in their ceilings along with problems like broken lights and faulty air conditioning. They said the housing authority has turned a deaf ear to their concerns.

Karen DuBois-Walton, executive director of the housing authority, said the agency takes all complaints seriously, and follows up on reports of mold and water leaks within 24 hours. Non-emergency complaints can take up to 30 days to address, she said.

DuBois-Walton said she monitors work-order completion rates closely and hasn’t seen a problem at Constance Baker Motley. ​“We’ve made a lot of efforts to make sure we meet our metrics around this,” she said.

She said the authority has taken a number of steps to improve services at Constance Baker Motley, including creating an on-site office that’s staffed every weekday by a supervisor.

The building has had a history of problems, including broken air conditioning that sent one tenant to the hospital.

Trust

Alderwoman Clyburn (at center in photo) has been meeting with neighbors in the building for months, advocating on their behalf. She said that the housing authority has made some ​“cosmetic changes” in response but has not addressed underlying concerns.

“That’s why we’re here again,” Clyburn said on Thursday morning. She sat with a group of eight tenants in the building’s window-lined lobby. ​“Let’s really and truly bring this place to a health and safety victory for the people who live here,” she said.

Tenants listed off ongoing, unaddressed complaints: broken intercoms, a leaking shower head, stove lights and vents not working, faulty heat and air-conditioning. Tenant Mitch Williams pointed out that half the lights in the lobby don’t work. The group’s secretary circulated a list of known problems, broken down by apartment.

Tenants said the most serious problems are leaks and mold.

They said that calls to the housing authority result in promises of a work order being issued, but very little action. Some of the problems have lingered for months, they said.

Part of the problem, said tenant William Suggs, is that the building has been rapidly moving through different property managers. None has lasted more than a matter of months.

“It becomes a trust issue,” said Williams.

DuBois-Walton said the building has had two different property managers since last October. She said she likes to have property managers stay at one location for at least a year, but the changes in this case were necessary.

After recent tenant complaints and advocacy by Clyburn, the housing authority promised to have a maintenance person in the building five days a week, Suggs said. That hasn’t happened, he said.

Sometimes maintenance staff comes and sits in the parking lot and then leaves, he said. ​“So we really don’t get anything done.”

“You hardly ever see that man,” said Williams. ​“He sits in his truck most of the time.”

“It has been a constant asking for health and safety for them,” Clyburn said. ​“This has been an ongoing concern.”

“This is the first I’ve heard that they are not seeing him,” DuBois-Walton said.

Gagging

During a tour with Clyburn through the building, Suggs pointed out spots in the first-floor ​“community room” where ceiling tiles were bulging out as a result, he said, of water dripping from above. In the corner, several ceiling tiles had been removed, and surrounding tiles had brown stains.

Down the hall in Thomas’ apartment, the 70-year-old was sitting in his wheelchair with oxygen hooked up to his nose, puffing on an albuterol inhaler through his mouth.

“I am not supposed to be in here with that!” he said angrily. He pointed at the spot of bubbled ceiling (pictured) above his bed. ​“I should be in a hotel until that’s fixed. That’s an airborne fungus.”

Thomas said he has a variety or respiratory ailments, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and emphysema, which are aggravated by airborne contaminants. He said he gets lung infections and fluid in his lungs and has been hospitalized three times this month.

“I wake up in the morning gagging,” he said. ​“I need to be out of here. This is a life or death emergency.”

Thomas said the ceiling leak started a couple of months ago. Someone came out and wiped it with bleach and put adhesive tape over it, he said. The bleach only irritated his lungs, he said. ​“You’ve got to kill the fungus.”

Clyburn promised she would write a letter to DuBois-Walton immediately ​“to have you out of here.”

DuBois-Walton said complaints about mold are taken seriously and suspected mold is tested immediately. When the results come back, they’re accompanied by recommendations, which can include moving a tenant out, depending on how severe the problem is. DuBois-Walton said mold testing was done in the building last week, and results are pending.

In her first-floor apartment, Rosemary Stanley, who’s also in a wheelchair, pointed out what appeared to be mold and water damage (pictured) in her ceiling. She said she’s called the housing authority to fix it. ​“They say they make a work order and nothing comes.”

In apartment 210, where wheelchair-bound Christopher Harris lives, his fiancee pointed out where the shower leaks as well as strange discolorations in the ceiling, and spots where the paint is bubbling and damp along one wall.

One floor up in apartment 310, Williams demonstrated that neither the light or the blower works on the hood above his stove. He pointed out what appeared to be mold or water damage in the ceiling of his bedroom. He said it’s been that way for over two months, and that he called and was told a work order had been submitted.

Williams also pointed out the air conditioner in his window, right above the heating and cooling unit that’s supposed to keep his apartment cool. He’s one of a number of tenants who have installed their own air conditioners because the building’s central air is unreliable. ​“We shouldn’t have to buy air conditioners,” Williams said.

The building tour ended back at the lobby, where one more example of water damage (pictured) was visible above the receptionist’s desk.

“Folks can feel free to call me on these things,” DuBois-Walton said. ​“Certainly we want to hear about these things as they are happening.”