ABBEVILLE, La. (KLFY) – Tenants at the Willowing Apartments are concerned about repairs that are being neglected.

Kathy Brooks spoke on behalf of many tenants who expressed they feel neglected by management to get repairs done at the Willowind Apartment Complex. Brooks who said she had been living in her apartment for a year now said, “The concern that the tenants have is the structural integrity of their apartment.” 

She explained that there is an upper porch where the support beam is completely rusted through and it is being held up by two, 2 x 4. She said they have been there for over a year and are already splitting. “Wood was not meant to hold up concrete porches. Those porches probably weigh at least 2,000 lbs. Two 2 x 4 put together underneath the porch is not safe. Somebody is going to get extremely hurt and it's about time that the management company does something about these things. If rural development showed up out here this place would be shut down,” said Brooks. 

In addition, she said there are a couple of other porches where the support beams are completely rusted away and are not touching anything. She said the stairwells are completely crumbling and in some of them, you can see daylight through them. Brooks, also added, that one apartment was recently vacated and another tenant moved in the cabinets are all burnt from the previous tenant. “It's just not safe. The structural damage is unbelievable. We have one repair man and then, fortunately, he is spread through four different complexes,” she said. 

Brooks also said there are some apartments without smoke detectors in them. “Those batteries are supposed to be checked every time they come and do an inspection, but the inspection is basically our maintenance changing the AC filters. So no smoke detectors in an apartment what's going to happen if a fire breaks out?” she questioned. 

When asked if the tenants reported any of the issues, Brooks responded, “They really don't report it, because they're afraid they're going to get evicted. There are older tenants living here. Some of them live upstairs. The stairwells are not safe.” 

She adds, “These things have been happening. This is not something that just happened overnight. These are repairs that need to have been done a long time ago and according to their own lease, they are liable for that. It plainly states in the lease that they are supposed to maintain the property in safe and sanitary conditions according to the rules of rural development. Now, there are different state agencies out here that help with low-income housing, and that's another reason a lot of the tenants don't want to report or say anything because they're afraid they're going to lose their assistance.” 

Brooks says that the manager of the complex had been there for a year and had inherited the issues tenants voiced. “She walked into a hornet's nest here and the maintenance man. It’s not their fault that the management company out of Alabama refuses to do anything and they manage quite a few properties here in Acadiana. The other properties are very well-kept, except for ours. I'm standing up. I'm going to say what needs to be said that the other tenants are afraid to say,” said Brooks. “I just hope that this gets their attention and they take care of the property before somebody gets severely hurt.” 

Clarification was received on some of the concerns and a statement below from Matt Cornelson, Director of Property Management of Morrow Realty Company, Inc.

“We are in the process of rectifying the issues that have been identified and have placed them on high priority. We acknowledge that there have been delays in our maintenance schedules and contractors that were scheduled but did not start. We deeply regret any inconvenience this has caused our residents.”

Below he addresses the concerns. 

1. The water heater shown in the picture was replaced on 5/23/24 which was 3 days after the resident moved in on 5/20/24. The unit was not officially ready and our policy is to not move in residents until the unit is fully made-ready.  However, the particular unit houses a resident who was homeless at the time and requested to move in without the water heater so she could have a place to live. The corporate office was not made aware of this exception. Although our mission is to provide housing to those in need, this was a violation to our policy, even to help someone out in desperate need of housing.  We regret this has happened.
2. The burnt cabinet is the same situation. The staff attempted to get a cabinet from a local vendor to replace it but was unsuccessful. It is now on order from HD Supply and will be installed as soon as it arrives.
3. Concerning the iron work. We have been working with several vendors to develop a comprehensive scope of work that addresses these concerns. We just recently finished the same type of repairs at other properties which have the same priorities and hope to have these contractors finish that work so they can be onsite and have completed as soon as possible.  

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