ORANGE MOUND, Tenn. — As temperatures dip into the teens this New Year’s Eve, one Mid-South mom and her four kids are left in the cold.
Michele Calvin said her family has been without heat in their apartment off and on for nearly two months.
And that’s just one of many problems she said management refuses to fix.
Even during the warmest part of the day, it’s a frigid 55 degrees in Calvin’s apartment.
“Yes, it’s freezing,” she said.
She tells WREG it’s been one issue after another since they moved into the El Dorado Apartments last month.
“The first night, I had no heat. So, the problem began then,” Calvin said.
No heat, no water, and no working stove or dishwasher, even though she was promised a “newly-renovated apartment” before moving in.
“They showed me that they were still doing some things to get it ready and I asked, ‘Is it going to be ready?’ that same day, and she said, ‘Yes, ma’am. It’s going to be ready,'” Calvin said.
On top of all that, water has been leaking from the apartment above into her bathroom and kitchen, warping the cabinets and flooring and leaving behind what appears to be mold.
“I woke up and I literally thought it was raining outside and I got up and saw that it was leaking,” Calvin said.
She has called and emailed property management repeatedly since moving in, but says – aside from painting over that apparent mold and drying out the carpet – the issues have gone ignored.
“Obviously, they’re not listening to what I’m trying to tell them,” she said.
Saturday morning, the HVAC unit – which provides heating, ventilation and A/C – caught on fire while she and her kids were sleeping, knocking out heat again on the coldest weekend of the year.
“It’s just crazy to me how low-down people can be, especially around this time of the year when the temperatures are getting low and stuff,” said Damon Nesbitt, family friend and associate minister at New Dimensions Church.
Calvin and her kids are now staying with fellow church members, but she says she just wants to be let out of her lease so her family can find a better place to live.
“They’re good kids and they don’t deserve to have to live in these kinds of deplorable conditions,” she said.
No one answered at the leasing office at the El Dorado Apartments when WREG called Sunday, and we couldn’t leave a message because their voicemail box was full.
WREG also sent them an email and left a message with their corporate office.
So far, no one has returned our calls or messages.
