AKRON, Ohio — An Akron woman is seeking answers and action from Wilbeth Arlington Homes after her entire living room and dining room ceiling collapsed while she and her children slept in their bedrooms.
Marshorie Porter moved into the subsidized apartment with her five-year-old daughter and one-year-old son in March. The apartments were advertised as newly renovated, and she thought her home would feel as such. And she did, until Monday morning.
Around 7 a.m. Monday, Porter woke up to a loud bang from the other room. She thought something may have fallen off a shelf. Then she saw her living room.
"I just couldn't believe it. It was just like, 'Is this really happening?'" Porter said. "Everything was covered. My TV, my couches, my tables, everything—all my kid's toys."
The entire ceiling, from the start of the living room across the space into the dining room, had fallen to the floor. Insulation flew through the air. Dust and debris covered everything. Porter said she couldn't even walk to the room to leave the apartment because the ceiling was blocking the way.
No one was injured in the incident—although Porter said that had the ceiling collapsed just a few minutes later, that may not have been the case.
"If we were out here, it would have been on top of my baby or my daughter. We would have been sitting out on the couch if it was way earlier in the day. I just couldn’t believe it," Porter said.
Porter said she contacted the Wilbeth Arlington Homes property manager, and after a few days with little to no communication, she was finally offered a smaller unit—but said it had been recently occupied and not yet cleaned from the previous tenants.
Frustration continued to rise for Porter and her family, who have since been the ones to clear out the ceiling debris and insulation from Porter's apartment. They said the property did not help.
"My dad and my son ended up cleaning everything out for them just to even try to get out of the apartment. They didn't even do that, and the stuff is still out there. They didn't even put it in the trash," said Porter's mother, Darsharee McMullen.
McMullen was left in shock when she found out about the apartment from her daughter. She doesn't like to think about what could have happened if her daughter and grandchildren were in the living or dining room when the ceiling collapsed.
"What if she had woken up and decided she wanted to come in and watch TV? It would have been worse. Instead of calling [the property management], we would have been calling the paramedics," she said.
The couch is coated in fiberglass insulation. The playpen was covered in dust. The apartment remains dusty—a concern for her daughter, who has asthma. The family is now trying to figure out the next steps.
"Furniture and everything is destroyed. So she will have to start over, trying to start over and get a couple of new things going. But it's bad," McMullen said.
Four days after the incident, Porter said she feels as if the property management hasn't done enough. Concerns that similar incidents could happen in any of the units remain top of mind for her and her family. Their biggest concern is a lack of communication they say has left them in limbo.
News 5 reached out to Wilbeth Arlington Homes multiple times on Friday, asking to talk to property management about the situation. We have not heard back.
However, when Porter met us at the apartment where the incident occurred, she walked in to see the open ceiling covered with plastic that she said hadn't been there before. She said the property must have been in doing some kind of work—but what that means for her future remains to be seen.
In the meantime, Porter and her family are grateful no one was hurt in the incident—but want Wilbeth Arlington Homes to take more accountability and worry about their neighbors.
"I just feel like they didn't care about it like they are supposed to. They made it seem like it was my fault when it wasn't," Porter said.
"What about the other tenants everywhere else? Everybody's got kids in the neighborhood? What if it happened to them?" McMullen said.
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