Laurel Place tenant maintenance problems continue

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- In April 2023, ABC57 did a story with Erica Williams, she had stubborn black mold in her tub that she said the housing authority had ignored.

Williams got a new tub and an apology. Now, more than a year later, we are back, because her daughter is still sick. Williams said she's been fighting to get relocated and is at her wit's end.

"Okay, so Saturday, I came to the bathroom, I was using the bathroom, of course, and when I was sitting here, I could hear the workers beating, beating, beating," Williams said.

Williams lives at Laurel Place Apartments, managed by the South Bend Housing Authority. The unit next door to hers had a fire about five months ago, and workers are still repairing the damage.

"He hit the vent side so hard, it started to dislodge from the wall," she said.

Her daughter also heard a loud boom.

"So I ran in here, and all of the ceiling from this hole was on the floor, and this big hole was in my daughter's ceiling."

Williams called maintenance.

Six days later, the hole is still in her daughter's bedroom.

"She's afraid and it's not safe," she said.

She's worried there's mold growing, remember, this wall is next to the unit that had a big fire. Williams says her daughter suffers from allergies and asthma and is having a hard time.

We took our cameras in for a closer look inside the hole in her ceiling.

"That's when I called maintenance and let them have it," Williams said. "I was disgusted. I was real distraught."

Williams thinks there's clearly mold in her ceiling. The housing authority, however, maintains there is no evidence of mold in her unit.

Executive director Marsha Parham-Green is now accusing Williams of lying to get a new apartment.

"I've been asking to be relocated since, this is 24? Since 21," Williams said.

This is low-income housing; Williams says if she could afford to move, she would have by now.

"I feel like a failure to my children. I really do, because children are only in the situation that the parents put them in or have them in. And it's not their fault, that responsibility is on me. And you know, I really feel like I failed them because they cannot live in peace, they're not happy right now. More importantly, they're not healthy. They're not healthy."

The South Bend Housing Authority tells ABC57's Annie Kate they are working to find Williams a new place to live.

A crew stopped by Thursday to put a board over the hole in Williams' ceiling and are planning to do a full repair next week.

ABC57 also reached out to the St. Joseph County Health Department, which sent its standard response for complaints for mold, more can be found here.