CLEVELAND — Cleoties Dubose suffers from COPD and asthma and believes mold growing in her Cleveland apartment is triggering her medical conditions and jeopardizing her health.
Dubose showed News 5 home mold test kits and mold growing in various rooms of her unit at the Rainbow Terrace Apartments on the city's East Side.
Dubose said she's contacted property management several times about mild flooding issues and mold but said staff at the complex has only offered short-term solutions.
“This stuff is so horrible it’s killing my breathing. Basically, I’m sleeping in a mold coffin, and they don’t care," Dubose said. “They wanted to bleach and water it; that’s a temporary fix; it’s live mold; it’s going to come back; as long as there’s moisture, it’s going to come back.”
Dubose believes that property owners need to take more dramatic steps to solve water intrusion problems.
“They have to dig around, it’s the foundation, it’s not the walls, it’s the foundation, the foundation is no good on these buildings anymore," Dubose said. “They haven’t done anything and they don’t care that it’s mold, they’re making the outside look nice to fool people.”
Cleveland Department of Public Health Director David Margolius said his inspectors issued mold violations at the property on Jan. 11 and have given Michigan-based Independent Management Services 10 days to initiate a clean-up or face fines.
“Housing is health, where people live really determines how healthy they are able to be," Margolius said. “Mold can trigger asthma, allergies; it can make breathing harder. “It’s always a symptom of moisture, moisture that’s not getting properly ventilated, or a leak or a flood.
Margolius said the violations ordered Rainbow Terrace management to abate the nuisance from walls and other surfaces, locate the source of water invasion and make repairs, use measures to prevent moisture and condensation and dispose of absorbent materials that can’t be cleaned.
Margolius told News 5 he's hoping Cleveland city council will soon vote in favor of Residents First legislation, proposed by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb last fall, which would give the city more direct authority to punish delinquent landlords.
"Instead of us giving a court summons for negligent property management, it would allow us to do a few things," Margolius said. "One is a civil ticket, it would be a fine for every day they are out of compliance, and two, which is really important for a case like this, out-of-town landlords would have to have a local agent in charge. It would have to have someone within Cuyahoga County."
Independent Management Services Vice President Blake Hunter responded immediately to News 5 and issued the following statement about mold concerns:
Independent Management Services has responded several times to mold concerns over the past 6 months and has taken major steps to clean-up and repair multiple issues.
We will again respond in the coming days as we continue to work with tenants at our apartment complex.
Tenants also have a responsibility to keep their units clean in helping to prevent possible health concerns at the property.
Meanwhile, Dubose is concerned she may not have her lease renewed because she reported the problems to Cleveland health inspectors.
“They come, suck the water up, mop it and leave," Dubose said. “And when you get to saying something they don’t like, it’s time for you to go, that’s the situation I’m in.”
News 5 is committed in following through on this developing story.
