BALTIMORE — People living at the Walker Daniels Apartments were living with mold, rats and unsafe conditions. The owners stepped up at the beginning of this year to address the horrible living conditions.
Things seem to be moving in the right direction, as they are addressing big concerns, but not all tenants are happy with the progress.
Sitting on the corner of 2100 Madison Avenue you'll find the Walker Daniels Apartments. 23 unit rentals for seniors and those with low income.
Outside the buildings, you'll see tenants gathered, but when you take a step inside it's not always a pretty scene.
RELATED: Owner of Walker-Daniels apartments responds to tenants' claims of poor living
Tenants have lived years with mold, mice, and fear of their safety. When they reached out to the previous property managers, Towner Management Company, they got no response.
Back in January, the owners of the apartments stepped up to make changes, as the previous property managers stepped down.
"The relationship with the tenants is evolving to a more positive standpoint, fixing things are happening,” said Keith Thompson, owner and represents ownership.
They removed trash that once filled a whole fenced area and now security sits outside to provide safety.
"The first day the security was there they actually saw the tenant opening up the front door to let people in, and when the tenant saw the security, the people left,” said Thompson.
But with security, it's only three days a week. It's something tenants say isn't enough.
"You put him out for a few hours, as soon as the security guy's gone, the door is wide open,” tenant Philip Coleman said.
While the owners are addressing issues, tenants say the city is still issuing fines to the owner.
"This violation is for the window and the water marks across the ceiling, really the window because the window floods,” said Nae, a tenant.
And tenants say they’re still seeing mice.
"I don't have no roaches none of that, but the mice, you stomp your feet, they stomp back," said Johnetta Johnson, a tenant.
"My door has a big hole at the bottom, where the mice just got the key, underneath is where they come up,” said Patricia White, who is also a tenant.
But Thompson says an exterminator was out last week to begin the process of getting rid of the rodents. They are going into every apartment to document and address the remaining issues.
"We're doing the maintenance inspections, where we're actually going in there and looking at things that they haven't even said anything about,” Thompson explained.
Thompson says it has taken time to get funds transferred over from the previous property managers to pay for the fixtures in the buildings, causing it to be a lengthy process. But he says they are moving in the right direction.
"I feel good about how things are going, I mean we still got a little ways to go, but I feel good about it,” Thompson added.
He says they are looking to have new property managers within the next 30 days and that he and the other owners will meet with the tenants April 3 to go over the progress they’ve done and what they expect of the tenants.
