By Brenda Flanagan
Correspondent
“Right now, there’s no place in my house where the mice don’t come,” Garden Spires tenant Keisha Williams said.
Williams lives in a 16th floor apartment at the Garden Spires projects in Newark. She doesn’t use her closet; mouse droppings cover the shelves, her cupboards and floors. Rodents come and go through holes in the walls.
“The other day, my husband put a trap down and within maybe an hour there were like nine — nine — mice on it within an hour,” she said.
“No one should have to live like this, no one,” said Malikah Clemons, resident of Garden Spires.
Like 300 other tenants in this 550-unit complex, Clemons gets rental assistance from HUD — $1,700 a month. Black mold covers her walls, the tub’s hot water spigot won’t shut off. Clemons tried withholding her share of the rent — $50 a month — to force landlords to fix the problems. It didn’t work.
“If we don’t pay, they don’t care. Long as they get that money from HUD, they good,” said Clemons.
“We are demanding that the landlord and owner either fix all of these things in a very timely fashion, or move these people out at their expense and HUD should be a party in that process,” said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
Baraka says the city filed a complaint against the landlord, First King Properties, asking the court to appoint a receiver and declare the building uninhabitable. He says fire, health and building code enforcement last inspected this two-building complex on June 30 and cited 379 violations. That’s on top of almost 600 prior pending unabated violations.
“The fines aren’t enough. We need more, we need more to happen,” said Newark Code Enforcement Officer Abiodun Nance. “[The landlords] shouldn’t be allowed to operate like this, at all.”
Vacant apartments that are chained shut collect garbage. Officials allege landlords still collect some rents.
“The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is also named in the complaint as it appears the property owners are inappropriately collecting financial contributions from HUD for apartments that are either uninhabitable and/or vacant,” Baraka said.
There are five vacant apartments on this floor alone, and residents say when they go to look for someplace else to live, they’re confronted with a waiting list of subsidized apartments that’s months long.
“I’m very angry because I tell everybody if it was my fault, I would understand. But we’re being inconvenienced and it’s not our fault. All of this is because of the building,” said Garden Spires tenant Renita Collins.
Collins finally had to move in with her mother after constant leaks in her apartment grew mold with mushrooms. Her son started wheezing and coughing.
“Now it’s asthma and I’m sure it’s because of the living conditions,” she said.
“It is an understatement to say that the bureaucracy is set up for the slumlords to take advantage,” said Sen. Teresa Ruiz.
Legislators are drafting bills to make landlords here and across New Jersey more accountable. Crime also plagues Garden Spires, where then-councilman Cory Booker pitched a tent to make a point.
“These are people that are working hard — full-time jobs — and they come home and they often feel like they’re prisoners in their own homes because of the conditions,” Booker said.
“I want to get out. Any type of way they can help me and my five kids get out of here, I would greatly appreciate it,” Clemons said.
We reached out to First King Properties, which also owns the Spruce Gardens complex. They never got back to us.