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Mold settlement hurts low-income renters mostMold settlement hurts

low-income renters most, gt

THE NEWS TRIBUNE

Published: January 31st, 2008 01:00 AM

The Pierce County Housing Authority may have paid millions for the privilege

of saying it did nothing wrong, but actions speak louder than court

settlements.

The flurry of activity at mold-plagued Eagle’s Watch on the South Hill and a

drive to improve the authority’s customer service are clear admissions that

the housing agency was not living up to its responsibility to provide safe

housing.

The authority paid $1.95 million two months ago to settle a lawsuit filed by

25 low-income tenants who claimed long-standing mold problems at the Eagle’s

Watch apartment complex sickened them. Seven of the plaintiffs were

children.

The tenants contended that housing authority managers did little to rid the

complex of mold. Worse yet, the managers blamed residents for the problem,

charging them for superficial fixes and threatening to evict them if they

complained too much.

Two former managers confirmed the tenants’ accounts, saying their marching

orders were to “blame the tenant, take no company responsibility and threaten

to charge if that is what it would take to get the tenant to basically shut up.

â€

Turns out, the housing authority knew that Eagle’s Watch had a mold problem

when it bought the complex 15 years ago. A 1992 property appraisal reported

moldy floor covering and walls in the first floor units. The agency bought the

property anyway, thinking it could remedy the underlying cause. But its

contractor never finished the job. The agency sued the contractor in 1994, but

the work was left unfinished.

That 1994 lawsuit provided the evidence tenants needed to prove the agency

knew about the mold and had not done all it should have to eradicate it. The

housing authority had little choice but to settle. It denied wrongdoing, but

gave tenants and their legal team $750,000. The authority’s lawyers whose

don’

t-give-in strategy allegedly prolonged the battle made off with $1.2

million.

That’s money that came straight out of the housing authority’s budget, money

that would have been better spent upgrading apartment units and meeting the

county’s growing need for low-income housing. Another payout might be in the

offing; the same attorney has filed a second lawsuit on behalf of another

Eagle’s Watch tenant.

That’s what it apparently takes to get the housing authority’s attention.

All 17 buildings at Eagle’s Watch are now slated for overhauls, and housing

authority managers are being trained in how to handle complaints (the first

lesson: don’t retaliate).

Residents of the agency’s 12 other apartment complexes and 134 homes are due

the same regard. The Pierce County Housing Authority exists so that

low-income renters aren’t at the mercy of slumlords, not to become one

itself.

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