The City of Kansas City is working to remediate substandard living conditions at a privately-owned apartment complex in southern Platte County.
According to Kansas City councilman Dan Fowler, who represents Platte County, he and a group of city and federal inspectors visited the Englewood Apartments, located off Waukomis Drive, last weekend and were shocked at conditions there. The visit led to a rushed 72-hour clean up order, but additional repairs will take much longer.
JEANETTE BROWNING FAUBION/Citizen photo
The Englewood Apartments, at 5432 N. Waukomis, were visited by councilman Dan Fowler and inspectors who found some living conditions dangerous due to black mold and other issues.
“To our dismay, resident after resident invited us inside to witness unspeakable living conditions not being addressed by the apartment management,” Fowler said in a release.
Falling ceilings, black mold and soggy carpeting were observed, with one resident’s clothes molding as they hung in the closet.
“Their apartments were unsafe, unhealthy and unfit to live in,” Fowler said. “Several families were dealing with respiratory conditions including asthma and allergies.”
The decades-old apartment complex is owned by Cleveland, Ohio based Millenia Housing Management, which owns low-income properties across 25 states. City officials met with management employes and were told to fix the problems.
Fowler said that improvements had been made by a second visit, conducted Wednesday, July 25, but residents continue to come forward with their stories of deteriorating living conditions.
“The sight and smell of the unlivable conditions nearly made me ill, and one situation was so heart-wrenching that it brought one member of our intervention team to tears,” Fowler said.
A regional vice president with Millennia Housing Management said he had no idea how bad the situation was and residents in the affected apartments have been temporarily relocated during repairs.