MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Water leaks, non-working stoves, no heat and hot water. Those are all of the problems tenants at Madison Tower have had to deal with for over a week.
How long is too long before piles of apartment problems become an emergency – especially when it involved the elderly and disabled? That’s the question we asked the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as Madison Tower tenants braved through the cold temperatures for the eighth day.
HUD said they were aware of the issues at the taxpayer funded senior high-rise. They said water and heater contractors were on the property fixing the problem.
Tuesday we saw several of those contractors in and out of the building.
But the director for the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center says he’s witnessed this happen way too many times before where tenants were forced to deal with unsafe conditions.
“This is a hostage situation,” Brad Watkins said. “The slumlords are getting taxpayer dollars to keep people in slum-like conditions.”
We spoke with several tenants who had to sleep with layers of clothes and were even using hand-warmers to stay warm.
When asked the owners what was going on they said a city water main break caused the flooding in the basement and damaged its water heater. Now they are working quickly to fix every problem.
