Mold settlement hurts low-income renters most

The Pierce County Housing Authority may have paid millions for the privilege of saying it did nothing wrong, but actions speak louder than court settlements.

The flurry of activity at mold-plagued Eagle’s Watch on the South Hill and a drive to improve the authority’s customer service are clear admissions that the housing agency was not living up to its responsibility to provide safe housing.

The authority paid $1.95 million two months ago to settle a lawsuit filed by 25 low-income tenants who claimed long-standing mold problems at the Eagle’s Watch apartment complex sickened them. Seven of the plaintiffs were children.

The tenants contended that housing authority managers did little to rid the complex of mold. Worse yet, the managers blamed residents for the problem, charging them for superficial fixes and threatening to evict them if they complained too much.

Two former managers confirmed the tenants’ accounts, saying their marching orders were to “blame the tenant, take no company responsibility and threaten to charge if that is what it would take to get the tenant to basically shut up.”

Turns out, the housing authority knew that Eagle’s Watch had a mold problem when it bought the complex 15 years ago. A 1992 property appraisal reported moldy floor covering and walls in the first floor units. The agency bought the property anyway, thinking it could remedy the underlying cause. But its contractor never finished the job. The agency sued the contractor in 1994, but the work was left unfinished.

That 1994 lawsuit provided the evidence tenants needed to prove the agency knew about the mold and had not done all it should have to eradicate it. The housing authority had little choice but to settle. It denied wrongdoing, but gave tenants and their legal team $750,000. The authority’s lawyers whose don’t-give-in strategy allegedly prolonged the battle made off with $1.2 million.

That’s money that came straight out of the housing authority’s budget, money that would have been better spent upgrading apartment units and meeting the county’s growing need for low-income housing. Another payout might be in the offing; the same attorney has filed a second lawsuit on behalf of another Eagle’s Watch tenant.

That’s what it apparently takes to get the housing authority’s attention. All 17 buildings at Eagle’s Watch are now slated for overhauls, and housing authority managers are being trained in how to handle complaints (the first lesson: don’t retaliate).

Residents of the agency’s 12 other apartment complexes and 134 homes are due the same regard. The Pierce County Housing Authority exists so that low-income renters aren’t at the mercy of slumlords, not to become one itself.