KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Mold problems at an apartment complex have tenants concerned they’ll be forced out. The Unified Government says an inspection of the Rosedale Ridge Apartments found the substandard conditions. Tenants say their complaints about mold and other problems have long fell on deaf ears.
Apartment owners have 15 days to correct the living units or tenants will have to leave. Notices posted on more than 160 apartments have put those living at Rosedale Ridge on alert.
Some tenants shared photos of their apartments with FOX 4 News. They show mold growing in bathrooms, ventilation ducts and along floorboards of some of the units. A few have described it as looking like mushrooms growing from the ceiling.
Tania Thomas and her son both suffer from asthma and she says when she complains about the mold, all maintenance does is paint over it.
“When it comes to mold it’s hard to breathe,” Thomas said. “That’s why we sit outside all the time. My son has severe asthma. He’s only eight. And I’ve never taken him to the hospital this much until I moved over here. He was just in the intensive care unit for asthma.”
Monica Stewart and her daughter also suffer from asthma and Stewart says the problem is so bad that she has trouble sleeping at night.
“If the office could live like this, they would see that they would not want to live like this, because it’s not fair to anybody, even low-income people,” Stewart said. “People that don’t have money to pay for a good apartment or where they want to live, or how they want to live. We are just doing what we can.”
In a letter that went out to tenants Tuesday, the regional property manager for Rosedale Ridge acknowledged that management must take action.
“Rest assured that we are working side-by-side with local government and contractors to correct any issues that might be present and to continue to provide you with respectable, affordable housing,” wrote Wesley Hays.
A Unified Government spokesman told FOX 4 News property managers must provide the Neighborhood Resource Center with an air quality report showing mold problems have been corrected.