MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis seniors in two separate apartment complexes are upset about deplorable living conditions, from mold to rodents, and even lack of air conditioning.
“We got Godzilla rat, mutant roaches, black mold is atrocious and the smell of rat urine and feces,” Memphis Towers Tenant Gertrude Dennard said.
She has continuously called out for help to the apartment’s management company, Millennia Housing Management, but she said nothing has changed…including the hot water being turned on and off since April.
“It’s muddy brown like it came out the Mississippi…so we can’t cook with it, can’t drink it…I don’t want that dirt in my hair…on my body,” Dennard expressed.
Geraldine Brown also lives in Memphis Towers, and she took us inside her one-bedroom apartment.
“These are mice traps, I caught one mouse yesterday…I keep this water, so I can flush the toilet in case they ever cut the water off…All that was mold,” She explained. “You see where they covered it up.”
Millennia Housing also manages four other properties in Memphis, and tenants at their other property, Serenity Towers, expressed their frustrations about the lack of air conditioning.
“I got Four fans in the living room, one fan in the kitchen…in the bedroom,” resident Lawrence Oliver said.
Residents have reached out to the Memphis Tenants Union, an organization that fights for safe, secure, and dignified housing.
“There is an agency that is tasked with holding this company accountable…the housing urban development and the HEF board,” Memphis Tenants Union Organizer, Jeremiah Smith.
Residents at Serenity Towers have called code enforcement due to the lack of air conditioning.
Now Millennia Housing is in environmental court and facing fines for failure to address A/C concerns.
Those living at Memphis Towers have also contacted code enforcement about the hot water issue, but there has been no movement to resolve the reported issues.
There were also fire trucks at Memphis Towers, but it is currently unclear why. Tenants said that they hope that it will raise red flags.
ABC24 reached out to the Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as the management company, but there have not been any responses so far.