Mold, roaches, evictions: Housing lawyer calls Columbia Housing Authority properties ‘uninhabitable’

Residents at the Columbia Housing Authority-managed Latimer Manor and The Reserves at Faraway Terrace apartments are sick from mold, have roach infestations, and are facing evictions after filing maintenance requests, two local attorneys and a housing justice organizer say.

Emily Blackshire Giel, a housing attorney with SC Appleseed Legal Justice Center, Sloan Wilson, the justice center’s housing organizer, and Macaulay Morrison, the staff attorney for the Carolina Health Advocacy Medicolegal Partnership, shared their concerns about Columbia Housing Authority tenants who have been referred to the groups.

“Over the past few months we at South Carolina Appleseed have become made increasingly aware of some untenable and frankly uninhabitable living conditions at both The Reserves at Faraway Terrace and at Latimer Manor,” Blackshire Giel told members of the Columbia Housing Authority Board during a Thursday meeting.

Blackshire Giel and Wilson said they have personally seen mold and roach infestations in both apartment complexes.

The CEO of Columbia Housing said mold issues have been addressed at both Latimer Manor and The Reserves, adding that Latimer Manor needs improvements. But she denied that any tenant has been evicted for filing a maintenance request.

But in an interview with The State, Blackshire Giel and Wilson elaborated on residents’ reports and their own observations of the apartments.

Residents of the Latimer Manor apartment complex at 100 Lorick Circle were told in 2021 that the apartments would be demolished and that they would be given vouchers to help find new housing.

The housing authority has continually delayed the demolition, either forcing residents to continue living in poor conditions or making them leave on their own, forfeiting the promised vouchers, tenants have said.

Between 20 and 25 people, all single mothers, have contacted Wilson regarding specific maintenance issues in their Latimer Manor apartments, she said.

One resident whose unit was inspected after she made a maintenance request was told she needed to attend a housekeeping class for two hours during the week or she would be evicted, Wilson said.

Several mothers have said their children are sick with breathing issues the mothers believe are related to mold growing in their apartments. Maintenance staff have spray-painted over mold, rather than address it. Leaks and flooding toilets add to the mold problems, she also said.

Residents report eviction notices being filed against them without cause. One woman’s Latimer Manor apartment was inspected twice, she was told she passed, and then an eviction was filed against her anyway, Wilson said.

Tenants at The Reserves at 2000 Faraway Drive have shared similar stories, Morrison said.

Her clients are typically referred to her by medical providers who feel some outside issue, like a person’s living environment, is affecting their health. She started noticing a pattern: a lot of her clients lived at The Reserves. She’s seen severe cases with children sick from exposure to mold in their homes.

“I feel pretty confident calling it a complex-wide issue,” she said.

The Reserves is also on the Housing Authority’s demolition list. Residents don’t know when they’ll be given vouchers to leave, and so they face a complicated decision.

It can also take years on a waiting list to be awarded a voucher, so leaving to find better housing often isn’t an option. Tenants also fear retaliation in the form of eviction filings for reporting problems, Morrison added.

In closing her remarks to the board, Blackshire Giel said, ”Tenants who rely on Columbia Housing for a safe, stable place to call home have been failed in these situations and we ask that you please take their concerns seriously.”

‘We can’t do it fast enough’

Yvonda Bean, Columbia Housing Authority CEO, told The State in an interview Friday that the claims made during Thursday’s meeting aren’t accurate.

“Those are assertions that should not be made without the full story,” she said. “Residents aren’t going to always give you the full picture.”

The Housing Authority does not evict people as retaliation for filing maintenance requests, Bean said emphatically. Tenants will be evicted for multiple violations of their lease, but not simply for filing a maintenance request, she said.

She also said housekeeping concerns would also not be the sole reason for a tenant to receive an eviction warning. Columbia Housing also keeps records of all inspections and maintenance requests and said all tenants facing evictions would have a well-documented list of violations.

SC Appleseed plans to file a public information request for those inspection reports, Blackshire Giel told The State.

There have been mold situations at both properties but they have been or are currently being dealt with, Bean added.

Bean did confirm that Latimer Manor needs considerable work.

Beginning in 2019, the Columbia Housing Authority conducted a sweeping analysis of its properties and identified several that needed to be demolished in favor of building new housing.

Latimer Manor and The Reserves at Faraway Terrace were on that list.

Part of the reason for the cataloging effort was to allow the housing authority to “reposition” properties to allow for a mix of federal and private support amid a decrease in federal housing money nationwide.

When the housing authority completed its analysis in 2021 as part of its broad Vision 2030 plan, it determined Columbia Housing’s units needed $250 million worth of work. Using a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program, the housing authority plans to demolish a number of its properties in favor of building new, modern housing with more units.

For example, Latimer Manor currently has 200 units. Its rebuild promises 220 units, as well as 50 homeowner credits, according to Housing Authority documents.

Because of its size, Latimer Manor is a main priority for demolition and reconstruction, Bean said, but the Housing Authority does not have the money for the project. Construction costs continue to shift so she could not say how expensive the work will ultimately be.

The Housing Authority Board declined to provide interviews after the meeting Thursday, but issued a statement that evening.

“In response to concerns voiced by Appleseed Legal Justice Center regarding living conditions at The Reserves and other Columbia Housing properties ---We cannot express strongly enough that the Board of Commissioners at Columbia Housing takes matters of this nature very seriously,” the statement says.

The housing authority has assessed air quality “and other health and safety concerns” at The Reserves in recent weeks, the statement adds. “Where problems are found, they are addressed.”

The Housing Authoring currently has $100 million in construction in progress, including The Oaks at St. Anna’s Park – a combination of senior housing and family townhomes being built at the former site of Gonzales Gardens.

The Vision 2030 plan focuses on addressing maintenance needs across housing authority properties, but “we can’t do it fast enough,” Bean said Thursday. “It didn’t happen overnight and it won’t be remedied overnight.”