State senator: HabiJax should be held accountable for Fairway Oaks problems

Sen. Audrey Gibson visits residents who say HabiJax homes poorly constructed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After walking through the Fairway Oaks neighborhood in Northwest Jacksonville Thursday, a Florida state senator said she's holding Habitat for Humanity of Jacksonville and the city responsible for poor construction that residents said left their homes falling apart.

Sen. Audrey Gibson, who represents District 9, also challenged anyone who donated to the nonprofit, saying they should be holding HabiJax accountable as well. 

For over two months, the News4Jax I-TEAM has been digging into reports that showed the area in Northwest Jacksonville, in which HabiJax chose to build the 85 homes in 2000, is located near a landfill that may not have been lined in the 1950s.

Within five years after the homes were built by HabiJax and 10,000 volunteers in 17 days, Fairway Oaks residents said that they noticed their homes were shaking and unsettled, and homeowners also began complaining about cracked slabs, sinking, mold and termites.

Gibson said the problems at Fairway Oaks were first brought to her attention by the I-TEAM reports, which prompted her to call HabiJax to see how it planned to fix the homes. 

She said she didn't learn much from HabiJax, so Gibson decided to come out to the neighborhood to see the conditions of the homes firsthand -- just weeks after visits from Jacksonville City Councilwoman Katrina Brown and Mayor Lenny Curry.

After reviewing reports, including one released by a third-party building inspector, which found that the structure of Detrese Mixon's HabiJax-built home is deficient and will require significant and recurring repairs, Gibson urged residents to seek out an attorney to assist their representative from Jacksonville Area Legal Aid. 

"The city engineer stated that, Sam Mousa from the city stated that the only way to fix Ms. Mixon's home is to tear it all the way down and start all over again," Nathaniel Borden, president of the Fairway Oaks Homeowners Association, told Gibson. 

Gibson also said she recommends residents file a class-action lawsuit after learning HabiJax still maintains its original statement issued on May 13 that said, "All the complaints stem from lack of maintenance and not from poor construction."

"I've never heard of a homeowner that has to maintain the foundation that their home was built on. That's just ludicrous. And it's really just the sins of the past coming to roost," Gibson said. 

After touring some of the homes, Gibson said she plans to contact the Insurance Commissioner's Office to see what it can do.

Gibson said the visit has her raising questions for anyone reaping tax credit benefits from donating to the nonprofit. 

"If you contribute to the building of these homes -- whether it's labor or material, it may be money -- there is a credit to your taxes that you owe because of your contribution," Gibson said.

She said donors should step forward and businesses should hold off on donating to the nonprofit.

"I wish they would press Habitat to come up with a solution to help this community," Gibson said. 

Fairway Oaks residents said they plan to be at the Jacksonville City Council meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday. 

"We had a mayor come out here, councilwoman come out here, we had Sen. Gibson come out here. But we're not going to stop the fight until something is done, until the first family is moved," Borden said. 

The I-TEAM reached out Wednesday to Curry, who said no date has been set yet for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to conduct testing in the neighborhood.