The Lucas Metropolitan Housing Authority oversees more than 3,000 subsidized apartments for the poor and disabled. We discovered it's taken the organization years to fix major structural problems
Gwendolyn Jones says she thinks twice every time she washes the dishes. At the Weiler Homes on Toledo's east side, what goes down the drain comes back up way too much. We saw pictures of raw sewage leaking into yards.
We found 70 occasions where LMHA had to make sewer repair calls since 2007. Jones said, "Everytime I go to the store, I can smell it. It's real bad! There's waste. Waste that sits in our backyard, and I'm talking about feces."
Here's what Gwen says really stinks. LMHA knows there's a problem with the sewage lines. But the organization is charging residents to clean them out.
Residents say if they weren't the main cause of the problem, they shouldn't have to pay.
The I-Team crunched through years of LMHA documents and found five bills to different residents for the same work order. We took our findings to LMHA executive director Linnie Willis.
Since the I-Team started its investigation, LMHA hired engineers to determine how to repair the sewers and eight more employees for maintenance work.
That could help with the other problem we found: black mold. Rosa James told us, "I never went through nothing like this before in my life." James has mold all over her mattresses, her couch, and her furniture.
LMHA moved her to a new apartment, but didn't pay to replace her things. She took us through several apartments and we saw mold on walls, ceilings, and window sills. "They act like we're nothing since we live in the low income. That's not right. That's not right for them to do that."
The worst mold problem is in the Brand Whitlock Homes. More than 100 apartments are closed because of mold.
In Mellissa Forbes' apartment, water has dripped from the roof into her son's bedroom for two years. The other apartments in her building are locked up because of mold, and she wants out.
LMHA's Willis says, "Until we're able to do something with them, we just have to work with the challenges we have." Willis says LMHA is aware of the mold problem, but her hands are tied.
These buildings are more than 60 years old. Her solution is to start over.
LMHA has applied for grant money to replace the Brand Whitlock Homes. Willis says, "There's no way I can maintain these old properties as they are right now and still be able to provide decent affordable safe housing for people."
But as LMHA waits to move forward, Gwendolyn Jones is waiting to move out and find another LMHA apartment where the sewers work.
LMHA should know about the grant money by the end of the year. Even if they dont get it, Willis says the organization is committed to closing the moldy apartment.
