A group in Memphis wants more code enforcement teams living inside some of the city’s most visited code enforcement properties.
Those with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center pushed that idea this afternoon outside Serenity Towers in east Memphis.
It is run by Global Ministries Foundation.
Federal housing leaders canceled contracts at two other of the foundation’s other properties earlier this year.
Mid-South Peace and Justice leaders believe code enforcement is already stretched thin, so they want five tenants in each of GMF’s properties to serve as volunteer code inspectors.
“These parents are our parents and our grandparents. Some of them will live the rest of their lives in places like Serenity Towers and Midtown Towers and the least we can ask as a city is that they live out those last days not being devoured by bed bugs. Not having temperatures over a hundred degrees in their rooms,” Brad Watkins with Mid-South Peace & Justice Center said.
Those with the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center said they have brought this idea to the city about volunteer tenant inspectors but have not heard back.
Last month, a spokesperson from Global Ministries said the organization spent more than $100,000 aggressively combatting the bed bug problem and other issues at Serenity Towers.
