ST. LOUIS — The You Paid For It Team comes to the aid of a mentally challenged resident living in a horrible North County rent-subsidized apartment. Water gushes out of the wall whenever a faucet is turned on. That means the floor is constantly flooded.
Sherry Allen the tenant’s aunt and legal guardian, called Investigator Elliott Davis about the problems.
“We contacted public housing. We’ve contacted everybody we know to contact. We have not been able to get assistance I’m afraid she’s going to fall and hurt herself in the kitchen because any time she turns the water on, it comes out of the walls,” said Allen.
I talked to the tenant, who didn’t want her face shown.
“It’s real hard. I didn’t get sleep, I didn’t eat, and I was stressed out. It was hard because I didn’t know how I was going to get through at night or how I was going to survive,” said the tenant.
The water woes are just part of the problem. The bathroom ceiling collapsed with no one coming to fix it. And the mold has just taken over her closet.
Her aunt says the housing authority did send an inspector out.
”He says that they have 30 days to do the work to fix the problem. It’s already been about three or four months,” said Allen.
Things changed fast after she called investigator Elliott Davis. I reached St. Louis County Housing Authority Executive Director Shannon Koenig. She sent me this statement saying, “The housing authority of St. Louis County is aware of and working to remedy the situation.”
“Oh my goodness, since you have gotten involved, I’ve had managers call. They call me every day from the housing authority; they made a personal visit to the apartment unit,” said Allen. “They immediately terminated the lease and allowed us to look for her somewhere else to stay. They’ve been on it ever since you called. I’m grateful, and I’m thankful that you were able to give some assistance and some action.”
