Failed HUD inspections, and now 256 Durham families don’t know when they can go home
The Durham Housing Authority has now evacuated 256 families from the McDougald Terrace, about 70% of the public housing complex’s units, officials said Thursday.
Meanwhile, a report provided to The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun late Wednesday shows the complex failed federal inspections two years in a row, scoring a 31 out of a possible 100 in 2019.
The housing authority is requiring households to move to temporary housing in hotels when inspections at the city’s largest public housing community find apartments containing carbon monoxide.
The authority found the potentially lethal gas in 50 of 140 apartments inspected Monday and Tuesday. There are 360 units at the complex on Lawson Street.
At a press briefing, CEO Anthony Scott said he does not know when families will be able to return or how much the temporary housing will cost the authority, which has blamed the problems on inadequate federal funding for maintenance and repair. Anyone who wants to be relocated will be allowed to move, he said, but it is voluntary for those in apartments where no carbon monoxide is present.
On Thursday, the state medical examiner announced that preliminary testing didn’t find carbon monoxide in three infants who died in recent months at or near McDougald Terrace.
“Despite the medical examiner’s report, I just want to be clear that our deepest sympathies go out to those families,” Scott said. “We’re going to be very focused on making sure that those units are safe for everyone to go back to McDougald Terrace.”
Roughly a dozen other children and adults at the complex have tested positive for carbon monoxide and were treated at the hospital, officials have said. They included a 16-day-old infant.
Failed HUD inspections
The problems at McDougald Terrace appear to be related to stoves, heaters and water heaters that are leaking the colorless, odorless gas.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which inspects housing authorities, gave McDougald Terrace failing scores in 2018 and 2019, according to HUD inspection data. Below 60 is considered failing.
In 2019, its score fell to 31, from 34 the year before.
Health and safety deficiencies found in McDougald Terrace units that HUD investigated and categorized as life threatening jumped 150%, from 24 to 60.
Projected life threatening deficiencies — estimated based on the number of actual deficiencies found — jumped from 72 to 153, the data showed.
The overall projected health and safety deficiencies in jumped from 820 to 1,871.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson said this week he is aware of the situation in Durham.
“While the investigation is going on, I don’t think we want to draw too many conclusions, but it is obviously something we are all very concerned about,” he said. “The housing authority there is working very diligently on it. HUD is working with them, and (we) hope to have it resolved soon.”
Gov. Roy Cooper said at a news conference Thursday in Cary that he has directed his administration to provide technical assistance to the housing authority to help at McDougald Terrace
”We need to fix this,” Cooper said. “The families and the children deserve a safe place to live.”
Durham Mayor Steve Schewel said Thursday evening that DHA has been in contact with HUD about emergency funding to correct the carbon monoxide leaks and other problems. He also said it’s still probable that city funding will be needed, and he expects the City Council to approve any help necessary.
Staff writers Lauren Lindstrom and Keung Hui contributed to this article.
This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 4:44 PM.