Shock and fire hazards, suspected mold, and an “extensive cockroach infestation” were among the housing code violations officials discovered at Fairburn & Gordon I and II Apartments in West Atlanta late last year, according to an inspection report obtained by Capital B Atlanta.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the owners of Fairburn & Gordon more than a month to clean up their act during the fall after a joint October investigation involving HUD, the city of Atlanta, and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs uncovered 81 housing code violations at the dilapidated complex. In March, HUD announced plans to cancel its contract with Fairburn & Gordon’s parent company, A&B Apartments LLC, for failing to bring the place up to code by a February deadline.
After the October investigation, HUD inspectors conducted a follow-up Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) examination of the property on Nov. 29. Capital B Atlanta obtained the results of that inspection via Freedom of Information Act request in April.
The document gave the complex a score of 18 on a scale of 100. That’s worse than the REAC score Forest Cove received before it was condemned in December 2021, according to Alison Johnson, executive director of the Housing Justice League, an Atlanta-based nonprofit advocacy group. HUD considers anything below 60 as a failing grade. Forest Cove received a REAC score of 32 out of 100 in 2018, according to WABE.
“We’ve been saying this for the last three or four years, that there are so many more Forest Coves in the city of Atlanta,” Johnson told Capital B Atlanta on Wednesday. “Anything under 30 or 40 is considered pretty terrible.”
Johnson agreed that the findings further punctuate the severity of the health and safety issues at Fairburn & Gordon. The report showed HUD inspectors found 155 “deficiencies” at Fairburn & Gordon on Nov. 29, including 31 classified as “life-threatening” and 17 determined to be “severe.”
An estimated 110 tenant households, 23 of which are Section 8, continue to live in the complex, according to HUD’s records, despite its unsafe conditions. Many are seeking new housing and relocation assistance.
Fairburn & Gordon resident Sherry Edge wasn’t surprised to hear about the inspection report findings. Since moving in a year ago, the 59-year-old, disabled mom said she’s had to call 911 twice after her carbon monoxide detector went off. She said emergency responders determined her gas stove was releasing the deadly gas into her apartment.
“The fire department had to bring their blowers in here around 11:30 at night, asking, ‘Do we have anywhere to go?’” Edge recalled Tuesday during an interview with Capital B Atlanta.
Edge said she’s unable to sit in her “rusty” bathtub, and is forced to only take showers in her apartment. She said her air conditioning has been on the fritz periodically since she arrived. She and her three school-age children, including her disabled son, who she said has Down syndrome, endured most of last summer’s record-high heat without a working air conditioner, and it appears they may have to again.
“They ain’t really get me no A/C until around August,” Edge said of Fairburn & Gordon’s property management team. “No refrigerator. Stove didn’t work. I ain’t even used the oven because I’m scared it might blow up. … It’s like they [property managers] just put you aside like you ain’t nothin.”
HUD is responsible for relocation of only the Section 8 tenants it serves at Fairburn & Gordon. Edge doesn’t receive Section 8 benefits, but she said she still plans to move out of her apartment one way or another.
Repair crews have been making the rounds at Fairburn & Gordon before and after HUD announced plans to cancel its contract with the complex’s owners. Earlier this month, an Atlanta judge gave the owners 30 to 90 days to make repairs after the city of Atlanta found more than 300 housing code and nuisance violations at the property, charges separate from those issued by HUD at the federal level.
The judge also ordered the property’s owners to pay a total estimated fine of $36,000, including penalties and fees. Fairburn & Gordon’s management team and A&B Apartments couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. The owners haven’t responded to interview requests or questions about the results of the inspection report or the ongoing issues at the complex.
A closer look at the inspection report
The potentially deadly maintenance problems in the inspection report included 10 exposed electrical conductors, a potential shock and fire hazard, and at least two broken gas furnaces at the complex, where multiple residents have complained about being forced to use their kitchen oven or a space heater to keep their apartments warm during the winter.
Other life-threatening repair issues included “extremely high levels of a ‘mold-like substance’” on the walls in one unit’s living room and bedroom, a missing cover on a gas furnace, a missing carbon monoxide detector, fire extinguishers that were missing, undercharged or expired, and multiple windows that won’t open.
The 17 “severe” deficiencies included an “extensive cockroach infestation” in at least three apartments and at least two “inoperable” ovens.
There were also 106 “moderate” deficiencies, including suspected mold in a water heater closet, roaches in kitchen cabinets, broken glass, a large hole in at least one unit, and at least one missing bathtub faucet.
Johnson praised Mayor Andre Dickens’ efforts to crack down on abusive landlords and expressed hope that the Safe At Home Act signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this year will lead to greater accountability.
“The burden is always on the tenant and these owners are still taking and making a profit,” she said.
