SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WREG) — A group of community leaders is taking a stand after they say a pregnant woman fell through the floor of her second-story apartment.
Members of Tabernacle Church of God in Christ marched to the Southaven Pointe Apartments on Wednesday in a fight for safer living conditions within the complex and within the Mid-South.
This comes after they learned their friend and fellow church member Ashley Thomas faces eviction after falling through the floor of her Southaven Pointe Apartment home.
“It’s very scary, it’s very scary. Especially when you’re five months pregnant and you’re used to feeling your baby move,” Ashley said.
Thankfully, she and her baby are okay. But it’s been a months-long saga for Ashley, her husband Justin, and their two young daughters that finally led to the protest.
Justin and Ashley say they’ve lived at the complex since 2021. About six months in, they started noticing issues. But it wasn’t until the last few months that they realized just how dangerous these problems are.
“It’s not just us with the issues with mold and other issues with pipes bursting in the house. It’s other people too,” Justin said.
Bishop Vincent Mathews said this is not something any human being should ever face.
“This is the American dream to have a place to live and to grow and to love. And to deprive them of that on such a fundamental level mushrooms into so many social ills, so we’re cutting it at the head,” Mathews said.
The Thomas family says Westminster management group, which owns the property, has ignored their calls for maintenance and repairs. When they sought legal help, the family says they were hit with an eviction notice.
The Vice President of Operations for the New York Based Company told us in a statement, “This is a matter with L and T Courts and we don’t comment on pending litigations.”
“My plan is to really expose it so people can really see how the Westminster Management Group, how they really are, and I want justice for all of this,” Justin said.
Bishop Mathews says the church is going to put the Thomas family in a hotel until they can figure out their next move.
He is calling on Westminster Management to bring in the necessary people to bring the complex up to a humane standard.
