WILLOWICK, Ohio — The Fair Housing Resource Center has stepped in to assist a disabled tenant of a Willowick high-rise apartment complex who has been without working air conditioning in her unit for nearly a month. The lack of working air conditioning coupled with the woman’s COPD and other health maladies forced her into a three-day stint at the hospital over Memorial Day weekend, the tenant said.
After receiving emergency funding from the county, the Fair Housing Resource Centerwas able to temporarily relocate the tenant, Darlene King, into an extended stay hotel in Mentor, providing a brief respite to what has been a frustrating four weeks, she said.
“This all could have been avoided if [property management] had just listened to me and got somebody out there and put a new (air conditioning) unit in,” King said. “It could have been avoided, but they don’t care. The owner is there to collect money and that’s about it.”
On May 20, King said she began to notice that her air conditioning unit at her $1000-per-month apartment unit at Shoregate Towers began to only blow warm air. King, who has COPD and has difficulty breathing even on the best days, shares the apartment unit with two other family members, one of which also has COPD.
Knowing how important it is for her to be in a temperature-controlled environment, King said she immediately alerted management to the faulting air conditioning unit. The first maintenance requests were not taken seriously, King said.
“I kept going down [to the front office] saying, ‘look, I need that air conditioning. I’m going to wind up in the hospital,'” King said. “That’s exactly where I ended up at.”
King’s brother ended up having to take her to the hospital over Memorial Day weekend. At that time, King said she hoped that her situation would have warranted an expedited response from the landlord. She eventually had to turn to the Fair Housing Resource Center for assistance.
“She was very clear to management that she was a person with a disability; that she was on oxygen; that she had breathing issues; that it is critical for her. She was not getting anywhere,” said Patricia Kidd, an attorney and executive director of the Fair Housing Resource Center. “I feel like [property management officials] are not taking it as seriously as they need to.”
Kidd said she began opening lines of communication with management and an attorney representing the property ownership company. Despite keeping several officials affiliated with Shoregate Towers apprised of the situation, Kidd said property management has not committed to when or if King’s air conditioning unit will be fixed.
Although Ohio law does not require landlords to provide air conditioning, much less fix air conditioning units when they break, the realities of King’s medical conditions make air conditioning a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, Kidd said.
“In Darlene’s circumstance, with her being a person who is on oxygen and dealing with several issues that affect her breathing, she needs to be in a climate-controlled environment,” Kidd said. “Ohio’s landlord-tenant law also has rules and regulations on what a landlord’s responsibilities are under the code and this is part of these responsibilities: Taking care of your units and making sure they are fit and inhabitable. People in 2022 should not be living in uninhabitable situations.”
News 5 has reached out to complex management for comment.
Kidd said she has heard about other tenants of Shoregate Towers that have also become frustrated by maintenance requests that have reportedly gone unheeded. She encourages tenants to contact the Fair Housing Resource Center for assistance.
“I’m hoping that management gets a sudden sense of enthusiasm to address the issues,” Kidd said.
