Rhonda Patterson, a tenant at Hargrove Estates, said she had finally had enough last week.
After more than 15 years of renting at the community, she has grown frustrated by property managers dismissing her maintenance requests for a broken air conditioning unit, garage door and bathroom piping.
That frustration reached a boiling point when she saw effluent from a burst sewer pipe flooding the street.
“We’re paying our rent, and we really can’t get anything fixed in these homes,” Patterson told The Dispatch. “… We got an older lady living a couple of houses down from me, (who is) maybe in her late 80s, early 90s. She had no air at all in her unit last summer … and I’m not even sure if she has a new (air conditioning) unit now.”
Patterson was one of at least six concerned residents who contacted Lowndes County District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith since April 10, Smith said.
Since Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Mississippi Home Corporation, along with county personnel, have been inspecting the housing community to determine the severity of issues in the homes, said Daniel Livingston, Lowndes County building inspector.
Smith at Wednesday’s board meeting said he and Livingston scoured the 40-home, Section 42 housing community Tuesday and spoke with several residents who reported issues, including broken air conditioning units, mold in their homes and sewage backing up in their pipes.
“It’s years of neglect,” Livingston told the board. “In my opinion, it’s just been stuff that’s been put on the back burner, and now it’s gotten to a point where it’s serious, and now they’re trying to figure out how to fix it.”
If the owners don’t fix the property up to code, the county could move to condemn and demolish the houses.
Addressing the issue
Section 42 housing is a type of subsidized housing intended to assist low-income renters in getting safe and affordable housing. Hargrove Estates is one of five Section 42 developments in Lowndes County.
Livingston said he gave Janice Davis, area manager for Phoenix Property Management, which oversees Hargrove Estates, 30 days from Wednesday to get the sewer line issue fixed.
Livingston said Davis would also need to compile a list of complaints from tenants and share it with his office, so the two can brainstorm a plan to address the substandard living conditions.
Davis has been in contact and is cooperating with his recommendations, Livingston said, adding that the broken sewer line had already been fixed by Thursday.
“At this point, (Davis) seems like she is being very compliant, and she seems to be willing to get the issues resolved,” Livingston said.
Davis declined to comment to The Dispatch for this report.
Mississippi Home Corporation keeps track of all tax-credit-funded housing in the state.
As part of that oversight of Section 42 and other low-income housing credit developments, MHC inspects homes when complaints are filed about the living conditions of a home.
When MHC identifies a violation, including health hazards, it issues a formal notice to the property owners to give a corrective timeline to fix those issues, MHC’s website said.
If those issues go unresolved, the IRS can recapture tax credits provided to developers, the Mississippi Legislature’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review website said.
Cities, counties and other jurisdictions throughout the country also regularly adopt and enforce building and property maintenance codes to ensure local standards of health and safety are met within buildings, Mississippi Department of Health and Safety’s website said.
Tim Hudson, the county board of supervisors’ general counsel, said the board could decide if those homes are deemed “a hazard to the public health and safety,” to hold a public hearing to decide the future of the property.
At the public hearing, the property manager and tenants would speak to the board and Hudson said that then the county would determine a timeframe for repairs and other efforts to be completed.
If those repairs are not complete, Hudson said it’s possible the property could be condemned. If the county performs any demolition or remediation work on the property, it can place a lien on the owner’ property tax to recuperate costs incurred.
Hudson said issues like this typically arise in homes that are abandoned and have issues like bug infestations or significant debris impacting the public.
“When the county gets involved, it has to affect the citizens,” Hudson said. “We can’t do something for an individual.”
Smith hopes the owners will resolve the issues through repairs. However, if steps are not made soon to improve the living conditions of the homes, Smith said nothing is off the table.
“I would hope that (condemning homes) would be the farthest thing from what we would hope to take place,” Smith said. “But we’re going to take steps, as we see fit, to be able to resolve the issue.”
Moving forward
Patterson said she hopes that repairs will be made soon to her house, but she doesn’t have faith because of her previous experiences.
“(Whenever there’s an issue) I call the manager to make them aware that I have a problem in my home,” Patterson said. “… I’ve just not been getting any feedback. And … what I’ve been getting told is that’s not an emergency.’”
Residents of Section 42 housing are eligible to purchase their homes after 15 years of renting. Even though Patterson has lived in Hargrove Estates for that long, she is not sure if she wants to buy her home at this point.
“I can’t tell you what’s going to happen,” Patterson said. “Since we have all these issues arising, especially with that sewer, that’s a major issue. Because if I bought this house and say, for instance, I wanted to rent it out, that sewer (could) be a major problem.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
