Scranton Family, Habitat for HumanityLose Home

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Scranton Family, Habitat for HumanityLose Home, Hope To Toxic Mold

BY DAVID SINGLETON THE SUNDAY TIMES 07/18/2004

For both the Wassel family and the local affiliate of Habitat for

Humanity, the rehabilitated home at 925 Maple St. should have been

the American dream.

Instead, and Wassel say the modest, three-bedroom

home in South Scranton became a toxic-mold nightmare they and their

three children are still trying to recover from seven years later.

Habitat for Humanity of Lackawanna County views it much the same way,

for very different reasons.

The nonprofit group, whose mission is to help low-income families

achieve homeownership, says it did everything possible to help the

Wassels: It made significant repairs to the Maple Street home; it

spent thousands of dollars to assess and correct mold issues there,

and it offered the family a new home.

Nothing satisfied the family, officials say.

Not so, say the Wassels. The real problem, they insist, was that the

group was ill-prepared to deal with their crisis.

A former member of the Habitat board agrees.

" There was nothing purposeful to what happened. We had no idea there

was mold in the house, " says Dawn Brennan, the former board member

who became the family's staunchest ally within the local Habitat

organization.

" For the Wassels' part, they were just innocent victims in all this. "

The Wassels, who finally fled the house in 2002 after five years,

taking only their clothes and their children's medications, believe

Habitat let them down. In the end, they say, their children's health

had been compromised by long-term mold exposure and the family was

left with virtually nothing.

Acknowledging they have talked with lawyers but found no one willing

to help them pursue legal action against Habitat, the Wassels say

they agonized over whether to make their story public. They know,

they say, it could embarrass both them and an organization they still

believe in.

But the local Habitat's sale of the Maple Street home to a new owner

late last year clinched their decision, they say. In June, Mr. and

Mrs. Wassel started sending a detailed e-mail about their Habitat

experience to media outlets, public officials and other Habitat

affiliates.

" We're the mold family. ... It's not something you wanted everybody

to know, but I was just fed up with the local Habitat, " Mrs. Wassel

says.

The organization, wary of the potential fallout from publicity about

the Wassels, launched a counter-offensive. An e-mail sent last week

from Habitat's Northeast Regional Support Center -- and forwarded to

a Sunday Times editor -- advised affiliates not to respond to

questions from the media or the public specifically related to the

Wassels or the Scranton-based affiliate.

It may be a dispute without a resolution.

Local Habitat officials say they have tried to re-establish contact

with the Wassels and set up a meeting to discuss their grievances.

Gloria Tansits Wenze, Ph.D., president of Habitat's current board,

says the Wassels have not responded.

" This is in a holding pattern until they talk to us. ... We do have

compassion for the family, " she says.

The Wassels, noting the local Habitat's interest in sorting out their

differences coincided with their decision to go public, want no part

of it.

" We tried for two years, " Mrs. Wassel says, " and I don't trust them. "

DISCUSSIONS ... DECISIONS

The rehabilitation of 925 Maple was the sixth project undertaken by

the local Habitat organization, which has put 26 partner families

into homes since 1990.

As part of their agreement with the nonprofit organization, each

Habitat family pays no interest on its mortgage but must

contribute " sweat equity " by assisting with construction or

rehabilitation of their home.

Habitat officials declined to take part in a full interview about the

Wassel family.

Dr. Tansits Wenze, after the Habitat board's July 8 meeting, said she

could speak only in general terms about the organization's

relationship with the Wassels unless she talked with the family

first. But she agreed to respond in writing on behalf of the board

and executive director " Ozzie " Quinn to specific issues raised

by the Wassels.

Through all of its dealings with the Wassels, she says Habitat relied

on experts to guide decisions, consistent with the mission and

integrity of the organization.

" We had extensive, extensive discussions of what was in the best

interests of the Wassels, " says Dr. Tansits Wenze, a board member

since 2001 and president since January. " We made the wisest decisions

we could make at that time. " Adds Mr. Quinn: " I feel I did everything

physically and morally that a human being could do for that family. "

Joedy Isert, spokesman for Habitat for Humanity International in

Americus, Ga., says each Habitat affiliate is an autonomous entity,

and the parent organization prefers that affiliates handle cases like

the Wassels' at the local level.

" From what I know of the case, they seem to be aware of the situation

and are dealing with it appropriately, " he says.

MOVING DAY

Mr. and Mrs. Wassel remember the 1997 spring day when they moved into

their Habitat home. It was April 1 -- April Fools' Day. A day

earlier, the worst snowstorm of the season had buried Scranton under

10 inches of snow.

" It was like someone was trying then to tell us something, " says Mr.

Wassel, 36, a repairman at Vac-Way Appliance & Service Inc. on Cedar

Avenue.

Habitat purchased the small, one-story house from Citimae Inc. for

$25,000 in January 1996. Dr. Tansits Wenze says Habitat's records do

not reflect whether the vacant house was tested for mold, but

adds, " We had no reason to believe there was a problem with the

home. " The Wassels, who'd applied to become a Habitat partner family

in 1993, say the most obvious deficiency was standing water in the

basement, which had a dirt floor. Habitat's construction manager

assured them the project was doable.

Work on the house started March 23, 1996. A story the next day in The

Sunday Times reported 40 volunteers turned out to help. The second

paragraph also contained an ominously prescient line: " The odor of

mildew was noticeable in the kitchen ... as long strips of wallpaper

were torn from the walls. " Habitat poured a concrete floor in the

basement, but Mr. Wassel says the water problem persisted, even after

they moved in. Habitat installed a sump pump and reluctantly agreed

in 1998 to place rain gutters on the house, the Wassels say. The

Wassels themselves later replaced an exterior basement door and built

a retaining wall to divert runoff.

Water finally stopped coming into the basement, but the Wassels now

had another, more pressing worry: Their children seemed to be

incessantly, and often seriously, ill.

'CONSTANT SICKNESS'

The Wassel children -- , 16, Mathew, 15, and Cami, 13 -- have

medical conditions their parents and their pediatrician concede are

unrelated to the home at 925 Maple. All three are asthmatic, and

Mathew and Cami have diabetes.

Dr. Tansits Wenze says the children were ill, and the family lived

with mold, prior to partnering with Habitat. She cites a 1994 family

selection committee report that notes the children " suffer from

asthma due to the living situation in which they previously lived --

no central heating and lots of mold. " Mrs. Wassel says her children

had problems when the family lived in another house on Maple Street.

The problems mostly disappeared, she says, when the family moved to

an apartment on Pittston Avenue four years before moving into the

Habitat house.

Mrs. Brennan, who took part in the initial interview with the Wassels

at the residence where they lived before moving to Pittston Avenue,

says she recollects a musty odor in the home but no visible mold.

By any measure, the Wassels say, the frequency and intensity of the

children's illnesses increased dramatically after the family moved

into the Habitat house, and have decreased -- though to a lesser

degree -- since they moved out.

" After we moved in, it was constant sickness, but you know, we never

considered it might be the house, " says Mrs. Wassel, who turns 40 on

Tuesday. " We just thought they were being hit with a ton of medical

problems. " She says there were infections, rashes and headaches; the

children " were living on antibiotics. " Their pediatrician, Dr. Anders

, acknowledges his frustration in trying to keep the children

healthy. The Chinchilla physician says the children were experiencing

multiple recurring illnesses " really far in excess of what any child

should have. " " And it was all three of them, " the doctor says.

TESTS CONFIRM MOLD

Dr. eventually asked the Wassels if they'd had the home tested

for allergens. He argued the family needed to eliminate the house as

a potential cause of the children's ailments.

" We were kind of in denial, " Mr. Wassel says. " When he first

suggested it, we sort of looked at him and said, 'No, no, that can't

be it. It's silly.' " In November 2001, an inspection by Cocciardi and

Associates Inc. of Mechanicsburg identified " the presence of visible

molds in the basement and the recurrence of molds in the bathroom and

kitchen areas, " according to its report. An air sample collected in

the hallway near the bathroom at the rear of the house found two

types of fungi: amerospores and cladosporium.

On Dec. 10, 2001, at a cost to Habitat of $1,250, the company

sanitized the house, including wiping visible mold areas in the

basement and attic with a bleach solution.

It also collected another air sample, this time in a rear bedroom

near the bathroom. Although the company's report describes the spore

concentration as low, the air sample identified molds not found in

the initial test: aspergillus/penicillium, curvularis and torula.

Other companies would later evaluate the house, including TechClean

Industries of Charlotte, N.C., and Datom Products Inc. of Dunmore.

Hired by Habitat, TechClean confirmed the continued presence of mold

in April 2002. The organization paid the company $7,080 to remediate

the problem by applying a sealant to the affected areas.

Datom initially evaluated the home for Habitat in September 2002. Dr.

Tansits Wenze says Datom estimated mold assessment and remediation

would cost more than $18,000, which was judged prohibitive by Habitat.

" With each company contracted ... to assist in the mold remediation,

each in succession suggested and requested more remediation than the

previous company, " she says.

In November 2002, the Wassels borrowed $3,500 to have Datom test the

house on their behalf. In addition to molds identified in earlier

tests, that evaluation found others, including stachybotrys in both

airborne and surface samples.

" The samples collected clearly indicate a significant fungal problem

in this house, " Datom's report said, noting the allergens were " of a

type capable of causing significant health effects. " 'SOMETHING ON

BREAD'

When the Wassels received a copy of the Cocciardi report in February

2002, they knew little about mold.

" We thought it was something you see on bread, " Mrs. Wassel says.

Their re-education -- and a chain of events that would quickly

unravel their lives -- began April 7, 2002. That day's Sunday Times

carried a front-page story about the Gleason family of Moosic, who

had lost their house and their health to mold. Among the molds found

in the Gleason home was aspergillus/penicillium, one of the types

identified in the Wassel home.

" Why didn't anybody tell us any of these were dangerous? " Mr. Wassel

asks now. " It makes me mad that no one made us aware of the potential

danger. " As the Wassels read the Sunday paper, the phone rang. It was

Mrs. Brennan, asking whether they had seen the Gleason story.

" I'm calling Ozzie right now, " she said, referring to Mr. Quinn. " You

are being exposed to the same things that made the people sick down

there. " Five days later, the Wassels left the Maple Street house.

They never lived there again.

OPTIONS OFFERED

Mrs. Brennan says Habitat didn't ignore concerns about the Wassel

children's health. But she believes no one in the organization

initially realized the seriousness of the problem.

" It wasn't that Habitat wasn't doing some things, " she says,

specifically citing the work by Cocciardi. " But when that story came

out, we all went to our computers and starting reading more about

toxic mold. " In the meantime, Mr. Wassel says the family, recognizing

other parts of the house might be a problem, had basically settled

into one room near the front of their home.

Dr. Tansits Wenze says Habitat had earlier suggested the family take

up temporary quarters in a trailer on the property while it

considered its options, but the family rejected the idea.

After the Gleason story appeared, and with Dr. advising the

family to leave the house, Habitat agreed the Wassels should vacate.

It offered to place them in a hotel, and the Wassels say they moved

into Comfort Suites on April 12, 2002.

That same day, Dr. Tansits Wenze says, the Wassels and Habitat

officials signed off on a handwritten agreement that said the

organization " recognizes responsibility to re-house family if house

is deemed uninhabitable. " Mrs. Brennan recalls -- and Dr. Tansits

Wenze agrees -- there was talk among Habitat officials around that

time of razing the Maple Street home and replacing it with a new

modular.

Mrs. Wassel says the family " would have been more than willing to

accept that. " But Dr. Tansits Wenze says Habitat's files do not

reflect that the Wassels wanted the organization to pursue the

modular home option.

" I don't know that they ever communicated that to us, " she

says. " Otherwise, we would have continued our exploration. " Mrs.

Brennan says she thought the situation was " moving along correctly, "

with Habitat following the lead of the doctors and moving the family

out.

" It was at some point after that that things changed, " she says. " It

was a shock that the Wassels were effectively dropped from the

program. " 'TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT'

After three weeks in the hotel, the Wassels were notified Habitat

would no longer pay for their lodging, they say. The family moved

into a tiny apartment on the second floor of Mrs. Wassel's parents'

home in the 700 block of Maple Street.

The Wassels say Habitat gave them two options: return to the Maple

Street home, where TechClean had finished its remediation work, or

build a new home in the Habitat subdivision on Meridian Avenue.

By this time, Mr. Wassel says, he and his wife were running

everything past their children's doctors, who rejected both options.

In a letter to Mr. Quinn, Dr. said applying sealant to the

mold -- rather than removing it -- would not eliminate the risk, and

building on Meridian would expose the children to an active railway

that could exacerbate their problems.

Dr. Tansits Wenze says the Wassels, in turning down the Meridian

Avenue offer, told Habitat they did not wish to move into

an " industrial area. " But she says an environmental assessment of the

Meridian site for Habitat in September 2000 found it complied with

state air quality standards and noted there were no industrial sites

nearby.

" It was basically to the point where they said, 'Take it or leave

it,' " Mr. Wassel says of the two options offered to his family. " We

were more concerned with our children's health, so we left it. "

Except for the clothing they'd taken to the hotel, all of the

Wassels' belongings were still in the home. They say both Datom and

their doctors advised against retrieving the items unless they were

properly cleaned; even then there was no guarantee they would be mold-

free.

" They said we'd be better off to leave the things there than take the

chance, " Mrs. Wassel said.

On Jan. 28, 2003, the Wassels say, Habitat padlocked the house. A few

weeks later, a moving and storage company came and emptied it.

" Everything we accomplished -- it was just gone, " Mr. Wassel says.

Mr. Quinn said the Wassels' belongings " were put in storage until

December " and later " disposed of. " He said some of the items were

given " to people who wanted them. " UNSIGNED MORTGAGE

The Wassels never signed a mortgage for the Maple Street home --

Habitat considered them tenants. That meant when the partnership fell

apart, the family lost not only the home but the investments they

made in it and the " sweat equity " they stopped tracking after 700

hours.

They say their original agreement with Habitat called for them to pay

$40,000 for the property. That was later revised downward, and the

family owed $22,500 as of June 1999, according a Habitat letter.

Their monthly payments during the five years they lived there

fluctuated between $152 and $183.

Dr. Tansits Wenze says all local Habitat families now hold the

mortgages on their homes. She says a family can't move in until the

closing is complete and they've signed off on a " punch list " during

the final inspection.

But that wasn't the case when the Wassels moved into 925 Maple, and

it wasn't the case in July 2002, when Habitat adopted its policy. At

that time, it had seven families without signed mortgages, including

one who had been waiting nine years to close on their home.

Mrs. Wassel says she had reservations about moving into the house in

April 1997, mostly because it was unfinished and the water problem in

the basement had not been resolved. By the time those were taken care

of, Habitat was undergoing a leadership change, with Mr. Quinn coming

aboard as executive director in January 2000.

Mr. Wassel says the family would ask about signing the mortgage every

couple of months.

" One of the questions we always had was: Where's the paperwork? When

are we going to sign? " he says. " And they'd said, 'Listen, our

attorney works on a pro bono basis. He's backlogged. There's some red

tape to be cleared up.' " In a letter related to a 2003 condemnation

of the Maple Street property on file at City Hall, Mr. Quinn says the

Wassels lived there as tenants because of " their refusal to close on

the property. " Both Mrs. Wassel and Mrs. Brennan say Mr. Quinn had

made the same assertion during a conversation with an insurance

adjuster who came to the house in early 2002. Mrs. Wassel says the

adjuster asked why the homeowner's policy was in her and husband's

names if they did not own the home.

" Mr. Quinn cut me off and said everything was not done when we moved

in so we didn't want to sign the papers, " she says.

Mrs. Brennan says she later questioned Mr. Quinn about the remark.

" He said he didn't know what else to tell the guy, " she says. " He

couldn't tell him it was our lawyers. " Dr. Tansits Wenze says Habitat

records indicate it made several attempts to close with the Wassels.

Despite a punch list showing work " done " at the house, she says,

board meeting minutes " referred repeatedly to more work completed and

the desire to have the family close on the property. " " We do not

know, " she says, " why the Wassel family did not respond to ...

numerous attempts to close. " Mrs. Brennan, who severed her ties with

Habitat in July 2002 because she was being shut out of discussions

about the Wassels, says the family did have concerns about unfinished

work. But on the question of whether they refused to sign the

mortgage, Mrs. Brennan is firm: " Absolutely untrue. " LONG-TERM EFFECTS

With their immune systems weakened by long-term mold exposure, their

doctors say the Wassel children face uncertain medical futures.

The three now take a total of 43 prescription medications daily, and

12 more on an as-needed basis. Those medicines fill a six-drawer

plastic storage unit in a corner of the family's five-room apartment

at Rear 726 Maple St.

The Wassels rely on medical assistance to pay for the medications and

most, but not all, of the children's physician visits in

Pennsylvania. Consultations with out-of-state specialists -- and the

Wassels have seen several throughout the Northeast -- are paid for

out of pocket.

Dr. , given written permission by the family to talk about

their medical conditions, says the children suffer an exceptional

gamut of health issues: severe asthma and allergies, recurring

sinusitis and upper respiratory infections, irritable bowel syndrome,

migraine headaches -- the list goes on and on.

He is not qualified to draw a cause-and-effect conclusion between the

children's illnesses and the Habitat house, he says, but he has no

doubt long-term mold exposure contributed to the severity of the

problems.

" That kind of chronic grind to your immune system is going to cause

some serious long-term consequences, " he says.

Dr. Santilli Jr. of Allergy Associates Inc., of Bridgeport,

Conn., a recognized expert on mold-related illness who has treated

the children, says their mold exposure made them susceptible to

other, secondary conditions. He expects the effects to be long-term

if not permanent -- a prognosis Dr. shares.

" I don't see them being very healthy people, " Dr. says. " My

gut sense is we are not going to see them get much better. " INSULT TO

INJURY

In 2003, the local Habitat placed the Maple Street property on the

market, selling it in December for $54,000 to Noll.

Dr. Tansits Wenze says Habitat made full disclosure of the potential

for mold in the house. She says the buyer signed a release stating he

had been informed mold was found on the premises " and that Habitat

has removed the mold to (his) satisfaction. " Mr. Noll says he knows

about the Wassels' problems -- the family says it sent him a letter

after learning about the sale -- but didn't want to discuss it

further.

" I have had the house tested, and I'm satisfied with the results.

I've lived here for seven months. ... I'm fine, and I believe the

house is fine, " he says.

The Wassels say the sale of the house was the last straw, an insult

heaped upon injury. Since they launched their e-mail campaign, their

story has been posted on at least two mold-related Web sites.

Despite their differences with the local Habitat, they say they still

support the mission of the international organization. But they feel

an obligation, they say, to make others -- including other Habitat

affiliates -- aware of the dangers of mold.

" I never want to see anyone go through what my family went through,

and what my children are still going through, " Mrs. Wassel says.

" They can't give us back everything that's been taken away, " she says

of Habitat, " but we can try to stop it from happening to other

people. " dsingleton