WASHINGTON — A Southeast D.C. woman is hoping to hold the owners of her apartment complex accountable for ongoing mold and sewage problems.
Kenndra Powell said she’s been living in the Worthington Woods Apartments for the last six years. In her years living there, she said mold and sewage issues have existed nearly the entire time and she hasn’t been able to get much help.
“All of that underneath is dry rotted and black mold,” Kenndra Powell said.
Her hopes and dreams of living comfortably in her hometown are fading fast.
“I moved here because it was affordable,” she said.
For the last six years, the conditions in her one bedroom apartment in Worthington Woods have only deteriorated. “The sewage issue actually I believe that was the catalyst for the mold,” Powell said.
She claims the mold started in her bathroom and has spread to the closet and the kitchen. When her neighbors above her shower, she claims the water runs down her bathroom walls, and often times she finds feces from other units, floating in her tub.
“I started having the raw sewage backup in 2017. I have pictures from 2017- 2018 up until now from raw sewage backups. I have had to throw out belongings because things were just completely damaged from the mold,” Powell said.
Phone calls to her leasing office she said are no longer being answered, “Now, I get no response. The leasing office is not responding to me. They are having their lawyer respond to me,” she said.
Powell shared emails with WUSA9 and attorneys from Offit Kurman. In the emails, attorneys said the landlords were willing to pay for a hotel room this week while they fix the problems. But Powell claims the hotel they offered was in an unsafe location, and she didn’t feel comfortable.
On Saturday, we called Offit Kurman but they were closed and so was the leasing office. We spoke to some other neighbors in this complex, some said they’re having similar problems, others said they’ve been spared.
Powell is concerned for the health of everyone living in this particular building.
“I don't know if they're worried about people's health. I've continuously reached out for help to the point where I've gone to the courts and I've paid for court motions myself,” she said.
The Howard University graduate said she’s frustrated by her living conditions, annoyed her plea for help is being somewhat ignored, and moving just isn’t an option, which she says speaks to an even larger issue for working Washingtonians who don’t receive any assistance.
“I can't afford it. I've gone to various apartments in Northwest, (D.C.), to charge $2,200 for a 570 foot square foot apartment…I don't make that much money,” she said.