Unit 10: Pendleton's Housing Crisis - Base Housing Not Up To Par )More Mold)

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Unit 10: Pendleton's Housing Crisis

Base Housing Not Up To Par

February 12, 2002

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- The Marines and families of Camp Pendleton have

been living in poor housing conditions for more than a decade, and while

politicians acknowledge the problem, it appears nothing is being done about

it, a Unit 10 Investigation reported.

is a Marine wife living in base housing. She told Unit 10 that she

believes mold in the housing is making her children sick.

" We've taken (our son) to the doctor and it's always a virus. A virus? A

365-day virus? I don't think so, " said.

showed Unit 10 the murky yellow water that poured from her tap and

said that it is usually brown.

" When I run a bath for my kids it looks like I'm bathing them in tea, " she

said.

She said that she had been told by housing officials not to buff the floors

because of asbestos. In her kitchen, she has caught eight mice but " until

we've caught 15 they're not going to do anything about it. That's what they

told us, " said.

" You wouldn't think that someone who gave their years and their life . that

the government could treat them like this, " she added.

is not alone in her misery. Unit 10 spoke to more than a dozen

Pendleton families -- most of whom would not be seen on camera -- with the

same sort of abysmal living conditions.

Another Marine wife, Carol told Unit 10 that the woman that lived downstairs

had so much moisture above her washer and dryer " that they were growing

mushrooms. "

Carol also said that her children are sick on a regular basis and that her

doctor had even written a note to ask base housing to move the family. She

said the note was not received well by base housing.

" They are very rude -- belligerent. They let you know that their time is

being wasted on you, " she said.

Tom Calabrese is retired from the Marine Corps now, but spent some 17 years

working in base housing.

" Nobody wants to claim responsibility, " he said. " The 'solution' is, if

people don't like it they can move into town. "

Calabrese has collected a stack of files, filled with complaints about base

housing in an effort to draw attention to the problem. The problem isn't

necessarily the age of the housing but its lack of maintenance -- a problem

that will plague newer base housing as well, he said.

" They're taking taxpayers' money, building things they're not going to

maintain, and then when it falls apart they're going to ask for more

taxpayer money, " Calabrese said.

Camp Pendleton officials don't deny that there's a problem, and even invited

Unit 10 to see how bad it is.

Base housing officer Maj. Craig Mc took Unit 10 to an area built in

the 50s that base residents call " The Ghetto. " He explained that there are

only 73 people available to maintain 6,600 homes.

" We hit the high-priority ones first -- water leaks, electrical problems,

real bona fide emergency-safety things where we have to get to. Things like

floor tiles and loose doors we get to as we can, " Mc said.

He acknowledged that there is a problem with mold and told Unit 10 that if a

family comes to housing officials with a note from a doctor, the complaint

is acted upon.

" If the doctor says 'Yes, this is causing a respiratory problem,' then yes,

we will move them. We've done that for a few families already, " Mc

(pictured, right) said.

Camp Pendleton is situated in the heart of Rep. Darrell Issa's, R-Vista,

48th District. He told Unit 10 that the problem is a lack of money.

" Fundamentally, we have a budget problem ... in Washington that is unfair to

the men and women of Camp Pendleton, " he said.

Another problem is the way the system works. If a Marine seeks housing

off-base, he or she receives an $1,100 monthly allowance and gets every

penny, Unit 10 reported. But if the Marine stays on base, the allowance goes

somewhere else and only a fraction of it comes back to the housing budget.

" There's the rub. If you want to have top-notch, good housing, you can have

it on base but you've got to leave the base commander with 100 cents on the

dollar of what he's competing with off-base, " Issa said.

Camp Pendleton officials hope to have all of the old housing knocked down,

rebuilt or rehabilitated by 2007. At that point, all the housing

construction and maintenance will likely be turned over to a private

company.

Copyright 2002 by TheSanDiegoChannel.com. All rights reserved.

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