’If one of us did this to one of our kids... we would be in jail,’ residents tell DHA
In a crowded auditorium at Burton Elementary School, McDougald Terrace residents used folded nonprofit fliers to fan their faces.
Children played in the adults’ laps, and adults sat in hard wooden seats, cheering when they felt like their pain had been validated.
The community meeting Saturday was meant to be an update from the Durham Housing Authority, but when given the time to talk into the microphone, the residents’ comments turned into a list of grievances after years of feeling neglected.
They’d just learned the hotels they’ve recently called home will have to do for at least another week. The Durham Housing Authority will continue to inspect the more than 300 apartment units after about eight people, including five children, were found to have elevated carbon monoxide levels from Nov. 20 to Jan. 2.
Two babies in McDougald Terrace and one in a nearby boarding house died during that time, but preliminary tests by the state medical examiner’s office were negative for carbon monoxide.
‘Enough is enough’
Holding a child, a woman began to scream and cry as she spoke about her daughter and life in the public housing complex.
“This is affecting how we raise our kids,” she said. “...Why are you doing this to our people?”
Ashley Canady, McDougald Terrace resident council president, said it shouldn’t take screaming mothers and elders begging for help to get something fixed.
“If this hasn’t woken y’all up yet, something is wrong,” she said. “I want everybody to wake up. I need y’all to know enough is enough. We are fed up. We are tired.”
The problems and concerns that residents have didn’t spring up overnight, she said. And blame lies at the feet of elected officials, not just the housing authority, she said.
“We have to start pointing out the elected officials,” Canady said. “City officials. County officials. This is a health issue, because if one of us did this to one of our kids, they would come and take them. We would be in jail. Trying to figure out how we gonna get out. Enough is enough. We have to stand together.”
Appliances leaking CO
Housing authority staff will spend the coming week getting estimates for repairs and finding out how long those repairs will take and if residents can be home while the work is done, Durham Housing Authority CEO Anthony Scott said Saturday.
As of Saturday, 246 of the complex’s 360 units had been inspected and, within those units, 202 appliances were emitting carbon monoxide, Scott said.
About 55 residents remain at the public housing complex, Scott said during a news conference Friday.
In addition to CO, McDougald Terrace residents have expressed concerns about mold, roach infestations and other issues. Scott promised residents the fixes would get to the root of the problems and not be swept under the rug.
“Look, we are looking at all of those things,” Scott said. “But the thing we are going to have to look at is what can we do to get you back in your homes as soon as possible. What things can be done while you are there. Or do we need to keep you away.”
Scott described shut-off valves that were leaking gas and old terracotta pipes that will likely need to be replaced.
Problems living in hotels
The meeting at Burton Elementary drew about 350 people. Housing authority staff spent most of the meeting working on the logistics of helping families across a dozen hotels around Durham County.
Families were given money, food and information about services they could access while staying at the hotels.
Transportation has been provided for McDougald Terrace residents to get to work, school and medical appointments. News of a shuttle to Walmart was met with applause.
One woman wanted to know why the school bus wasn’t dropping off her children close enough to the hotel. Another said she’d had to walk back and forth to a laundromat because the hotel wouldn’t let her use its washing machine.
Others described rude and belittling hotel staff.
Housing authority staff called out phone numbers and promised meetings with hotel managers to make sure residents were being treated fairly.
Failed inspections
Inspection reports from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development support McDougald Terrace residents’ concerns. In 2018 the complex received a score of 34 out of 100, followed by a 31 in 2019.
Scott and others have blamed backlogged repair and maintenance in Durham Housing Authority properties on inadequate federal funding.
City Council members have said the city has granted all of the housing authority’s requests for help.
Since 2015, the city has committed $15.1 million to the housing authority, of which $9.2 million has been spent or is for projects under contract, according to data provided by Karen Lado, an assistant director with the city’s Community Development Department.
The spending includes supporting renovations to the Damar Court and Morreene Road complexes ($500,000), help with the rental assistance program to fully use its vouchers ($220,260), support for the development team and pre-development costs ($1.4 million) and the acquisition of Fayette Place ($4.2 million).
About $5.9 million has been committed to help renovate J.J. Henderson Tower and construct 80 additional affordable housing units.
Scott said housing authority officials are reaching out to local, state and federal partners to help fund the evacuations and related costs as well as for repairs to McDougald Terrace.
Shift in donation process
Donations can be dropped off at The Salvation Army, 909 Liberty St., from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Needed items include nonperishable food, paper plates, plastic utensils, hygiene products, baby food and baby formula. Plastic containers are also needed to help residents store their food properly.
Scott warned donors to be cautious. “There have been several fraudulent GoFundMe accounts that have been put out there,” Scott said.
Canady has been working with the N.C. Attorney General’s Office to address the fraudulent accounts, Scott said.
The only GoFundMe account approved by Canady is The Good Neighbor Fund. The only other way to give money directly to the effort is through the United Way of the Greater Triangle, which has set up a Durham One fund.
Do not bring donations to hotels, Scott said. It’s easier to manage and coordinate donations at the requested central locations.
‘Invisible killer’
The Consumer Product Safety Commission calls carbon monoxide, also known as CO, the “invisible killer” because it’s a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas.
When people breathe CO, it replaces oxygen in the blood and can cause headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year an average of 430 people die in the United States from accidental CO poisoning, the CDC says. Poisoning is often linked to faulty, improperly used or incorrectly vented furnaces, stoves, water heaters and fireplaces, and alternative power sources as people try to keep warm during severe weather.
On Tuesday the Durham Human Relations Commission created a Public Housing Accountability Committee to see how it can help. The HRC is a group of 17 residents, appointed by the City Council to hear housing discrimination complaints and represent the diversity of the people of Durham.
While the new committee will need time to meet and decide on a plan, Chair John Rooks Jr. told fellow commission members: “If you can go out there and hug somebody, just show compassion. That would mean a lot.”
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 5:04 PM.
