‘It’s terrible:’ Residents at Northside apartment complex worried about health, safety amid sewage issues

Northside residents are living in deplorable conditions at a city-owned affordable housing complex.

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Several residents at the Twin Towers located at 621 West 44th St. are having sewage leak into their homes.

A handful of residents spoke exclusively with Action News Jax Annette Gutierrez. They say it’s not livable.

“The smell is horrible, the cleanup, the flooding – it’s terrible,” resident Simone Wilson said.

From feces to urine, residents say sewage is dripping from the top floors into their apartments. Bubbles and stains mark ceilings of some apartments.

“I was mortified,” resident Marva Knight said. “I had to leave and go to stay with my daughter for a few days because I just couldn’t take it. I couldn’t bear it.”

Knight is among at least 10 other residents who have the same problem. Simone and Kevin Wilson said that about a week ago, they saw sewage leak onto their balcony, into their kitchen and their bathroom.

“I’ve spent hours at night, 2 and 3 o’clock in the morning, vacuuming up water,” Kevin Wilson said.

They are forced to clean a mess that’s not even theirs.

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Twin Towers is an affordable housing complex owned by the Jacksonville Housing Authority. The building is more than 50 years old.

“I feel like they should have more respect for the senior citizens, which they don’t,” resident Calvin Johnson said.

Johnson has lived at Twin Towers for about 17 years. He said plumbing has always been a problem, but it became a serious problem last month.

Residents live at a fixed income and say they have no other option.

“We’re desperate,” Knight said. “We have nowhere to turn. Nowhere to go.”

It’s gotten so bad, they say it’s affecting their health.

“I’m actually putting myself at risk,” Kevin Wilson said.

They’ve tried reaching out to the property managers and to JHA.

JHA acting president Vanessa Dunn sent Action News Jax’s Annette Gutierrez a statement saying in part, “We take seriously our mission to provide safe, clean, affordable housing.”

She said plumbers worked to fix the problem over the weekend, but one line in her response had renters angry. She said residents can help reduce the backups by not putting baby wipes or kitchen grease down the drain. They say it’s similar to what management told them.

“We must use one-ply and not two-ply tissue paper, and I figured to myself, ‘This is America. This is not a third-world country,’” Knight said.

Neighbors say JHA is not doing enough to fix the root of the problem.

“They seem to be just doing the same thing over and over like insanity, and it’s making us insane seeing the same people come in our apartment,” Kevin Wilson said.

After over a dozen phone calls, JHA held a meeting this morning where residents brought their concerns up to the board of commissioners. Residents say they are still waiting to get a response about how JHA plans to offer a permanent solution. They want to be reimbursed or get relocated until they do.

Read Jacksonville Housing Authority’s full statement below:

“We take seriously our mission to provide safe, clean, affordable housing. Following the reports we received of plumbing issues at Twin Towers, JHA responded immediately and plumbers came on-site over the weekend Saturday and Sunday to identify the source of the back-ups and begin necessary repairs.

During a scheduled board of commissioners meeting this morning, residents had the opportunity to express their concerns about plumbing issues in the apartment building. Following that meeting a Commissioner along with staff evaluated the building to ensure the building is in a sanitary condition, and we are also working to remediate the units that were affected by providing a professional cleaning service. It is important to note that the entire board of commissioners and staff take these complaints seriously and are working to resolve them as quickly as possible.

Over the last few weeks, JHA has also been educating residents on preventative measures they can take that would reduce the frequency of these backups – for example, not flushing baby wipes, rags, kitchen grease, etc. We ask affected residents to contact Nicole Gregario, Property Manager to report any further issues.”

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