A Wilmington apartment complex is declared unfit for human habitation, but many residents won’t leave for fear of break-ins.
The City of Wilmington’s Licenses and Inspections ordered the owners of Herring Manor Apartments to relocate about 30 tenants due to a lack of heat and hot water. Tenants’ monthly rents are subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which the city says they have been working with to relocate residents while repairs are made.
After a system failure last week, the city stepped in with a private contractor who determined a short-term repair is not possible without new parts and a service overhaul. The city says the owner, AJPC Property Management, has three days to make emergency repairs.
Residents have been directed to stay with family members or to go to the Hope Center, but many like Shirley Brooks bought space heaters so they can stay and protect their belongings.
“We have squatters that sleep in the hallways every night," Brooks says. "They done busted a couple of apartment doors open in here and was sleeping in them.”
Brooks adds there are other issues like rodents, pests, mildew, and mold and says she feels unsafe with no building security.
Paul Davis has lived there for almost ten years. Davis says he is doubtful any meaningful repairs will ever be made, noting the same issues as Brooks and says they have been ignored for years.
“You got drug addicts coming in here, all kinds of people coming in here, they are hanging by your door, the police they came in here and tried to get people up out of here that don’t live here," Davis says.
Davis’ sister lives down the hallway, but she is staying in his unit where they can both use the space heaters
This isn’t the first time the building has had issues with heating and hot water –it was most recently declared unfit in mid-December, but repairs were made quickly so residents did not have to be displaced.
AJPC Property Management did not respond to requests for comment.
