Maintenance workers haven’t finished patching the huge hole in Ana Ivory’s ceiling yet, but the married mother of four said they’ve been in and out of her family’s trailer park home almost daily since a picture of the problem was featured in a Capital B Atlanta story in April.
Ivory, 45, said previously that management at the Hunter Ridge Mobile Home Park in Irondale ignored the estimated 9-square-foot hole, caused by a bad storm last year, for about nine months.
She expressed gratitude Monday for Hunter Ridge repairmen finally fixing a light fixture in her family’s den and starting to replace their severely corroded bath tub.
“They’re doing more than they’ve ever done before,” Ivory told Capital B Atlanta. “[It] makes me feel very happy that they’re finally doing what they’re supposed to do as landlords.”
Clayton County code enforcement officers issued 35 housing code enforcement violations at Hunter Ridge following a quality of life sweep Thursday. The sweep came in response to tenant complaints and media reports about unaddressed maintenance problems at the massive trailer park, located on Tara Road in Irondale near Jonesboro.
Those reports came after Princeton University’s Eviction Lab identified Hunter Ridge as the #1 eviction hotspot in the eviction capital of America.
Tenants have complained about severe roach infestations and stray cats and dogs roaming the roughly 211-acre compound, which has an estimated 850 trailer homes. Some said they’re routinely billed for maintenance problems they didn’t cause, such as broken windows and uncut grass, and have received hasty eviction notices from management within days if those fees aren’t paid when the rent is due.
The citations issued Thursday were for outside storage of furniture, trash, abandoned furniture and unlicensed vehicles, according to Maj. Sean Macdonald, commander of the county’s code enforcement division.
Macdonald said some of those violations were levied against Hunter Ridge occupants, but the landlord also was cited for a number of abandoned and vacant trailers.
“That could lead to vagrants, criminal activity,” Macdonald said.
There were 16 prior code enforcement complaints issued against Hunter Ridge this year alone, according to Macdonald, who said all of those complaints were resolved previously.
Hunter Ridge management told county officials they replaced at least one tenant’s roach-infested refrigerator.
“We were also informed by the property’s regional manager that there was a media inquiry and they had a chance to look at some of these issues before we got there,” Macdonald added.
Macdonald said some of the maintenance issues raised by tenants in previous Capital B Atlanta stories were never reported to Clayton County code enforcement. He encouraged renters who may be afraid of landlord retaliation to file complaints for unaddressed maintenance problems anyway.
“We can’t address a complaint if we don’t receive it,” Macdonald said. “Report it [to property management] first. If they don’t fix it, then report it to code enforcement. We’re going to come out and take a look at it.”
Ivory was one of several tenants at Hunter Ridge who spoke with Capital B Atlanta during multiple visits to the complex in April and May. She said management has been more responsive recently.
“They acted very swiftly coming to fix the problems that were reported,” Ivory said.
Other tenants, who asked to remain anonymous fearing retaliation from property management, said they’ve also seen more repair work recently. But many maintenance issues remain unresolved.
“We have taken notice that they are trying to fix up the front and the way the leasing office looks, I guess, to show face to the commissioner,” one anonymous tenant said via text message on Monday. “We still have those dumpsters next to us and the excavators just sitting outside next door. … They still are not fixing people’s stuff.”
Hunter Ridge and its parent company, River Valley Communities, haven’t responded to multiple requests for comment.
District 3 Clayton County Commissioner Tashé Allen announced plans to visit Hunter Ridge in late April, calling the situation there “deeply concerning.”
“No one should feel trapped in a cycle where it becomes harder and harder to stay housed,” Allen told Capital B Atlanta via email April 22. “Situations like this deserve careful attention and a thoughtful, fact-based response.”
Allen hasn’t responded to additional requests for comment.
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