JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The owners of Eureka Gardens are back in hot water after dozens of residents banded together at a meeting Tuesday night demanding better living conditions.
Residents wrote a letter to The Department of Housing and Urban Development asking them to force the owners to fix the problems for good or have the 400 units there shut down completely.
Though media was not allowed into the meeting held by the tenant association, News4Jax was able to get ahold of a survey that was passed out to tenants in the meeting. Some of the questions included, "Do your children have respiratory problems?" "Do you have mold in your unit?" And, "Have you ever received a 10 day notice after you've complained?"
"For some people this is a lifetime. So in order for that lifetime to be comfortable, this letter is going to go so they can continue to be comfortable," Eureka Gardens Resident Tracy Grant said.
Grant was one of the pioneers for Tuesday's meeting. Last week she allowed News4Jax into her home where she lives with no centralized AC and the constant smell of mildew.
Since then dozens of tenants have come forward demanding that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Mayor's Office or anyone that would listen would force the complex to fix the conditions or shut down the apartments completely.
Tuesday night tenants wrote a letter to HUD urging them to take a closer look at the recent passing of an inspection done by The Real Estate Assessment Center. Residents opened up about the issues that they are facing.
"My sister has all this mildew and the smell is terrible and there," Leticia Terry, the family member of a tenet, said.
"Mold, electricity, the plumbing, safety with the window screens, a window screen to put on both doors," Grant said.
The Christian-based owners, Global Ministries Foundation, also owns several other properties in multiple states. One is in Memphis where residents have said they are living with roaches and mice.
They own another property in Orlando where residents there said they live with leaky ceilings, peeling paint and melted electrical outlets.
Those stories have left tenants in Jacksonville with little hope but there is another tenets association meeting to be held in the coming days to continue to address the problems they said they are facing.