JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Residents at the troubled Eureka Gardens apartment complex are again being threatened with eviction if they don't clean their apartments.
Last October, residents were given letters warning that they had 10 days to get their apartments in shape to pass inspection or they could face eviction.
After meeting with Mayor Lenny Curry, the complex owner, the Rev. Richard Hamlet with Global Ministries Foundation, put a 30-day moratorium on those eviction notices.
On Friday, News4Jax saw apartment employees passing out those 10-day notices again.
“This letter says that 'You are hereby notified that you have failed to comply with the material provision of your lease or Florida law as it applies to the tenants,'” resident Dwan Wilson said as she read her letter.
The letter said a recent inspection by the Department of Housing and Urban Development showed Wilson's apartment wasn’t clean enough, and if it wasn’t improved in 10 days, her lease could be terminated.
“They say I violated my house lease,” Wilson said. “I don’t know how. I never failed an inspection.”
The News4Jax Investigative Team first exposed the squalor at the federally subsidized Eureka Gardens complex in September. City Code Enforcement stepped in with a raid in October, writing more than 100 citations for code violations.
Nearly 30 of the code violations had not been fixed as of a week ago, but a lawyer for GMF bought the company 60 days to make the final changes during a meeting last week with a magistrate.
Despite the deplorable conditions, including mold, crumbling stairways and gas leaks, the complex passed a HUD inspection last year, but that score was later voided by HUD in a rare move. HUD and the city have since re-inspected the complex several times.
After receiving the eviction warning, Wilson confronted apartment management and called the mayor’s office looking for help. Wilson’s apartment was toured by City Council members and the mayor at the beginning of October and brought one city councilman's assistant to tears.
Wilson said she’s received eviction warnings before.
“I think they are retaliating, because I’ve been on the news talking about the mold infestation,” Wilson said. “Now, we’re finding out about a lead infestation. We found out that there is a water main that is broken, so our kids have been sick.”
Mother says daughter has lead poisoning
A mother in the troubled Eureka Gardens apartment complex says her 4-year-old daughter might have tested positive for lead poisoning.
Alexis Silas said her daughter's blood test showed an abnormal amount of lead in it.
She said the doctor's office left a voicemail that her daughter needs to have a follow-up test to determine what the results mean, but she doesn't have transportation to take her.
She’s concerned the conditions at the apartments, which have been at the center of controversy for months, may be a contributing factor in her daughter's test.
“She’s been here since she was 4 months (old). (She's) never been in day care. She's never spent the night at anyone's house,” Silas said. “If it’s not the apartment itself, it’s probably the water.”
Rubio wants federal response to lead problems
Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio called on HUD to respond quickly to allegations of lead poisoning at Eureka Gardens.
Rubio's staff met Friday with tenants and HUD officials. Thursday, he released a statement, saying the tenants have been victims of poor management, government inefficiency and uncertainty for too long.
The statement says, "The recent reports of children testing positive for lead poisoning at Eureka Garden are alarming and absolutely unacceptable.
"The Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to exercise more urgency in dealing with the prolonged health and safety issues at Eureka Garden. They need to begin immediate testing for unsafe levels of lead at Eureka Gardens."
HUD has set a Feb. 4 deadline for GMF to repair the problems that have been uncovered.
News4Jax has attempted to contact GMF for comment about the eviction notices and lead issues, but we have not heard back.