ORANGE, Texas — The residents of the Velma Jeter Manor Apartments in Orange are once again facing mold concerns, and one tenant says she's had enough.
Chasity Amerson has lived at the complex since 2018. She says past two years she has had to deal with leaky ceilings, mold, and what she calls "property mismanagement".
Amerson says she is tired of being treated unfairly. She tells 12News that the complex served her an eviction notice after she got the city health inspector involved.
"Frustrated is an understatement!" said Amerson.
Amerson is looking for a permanent fix for the complex's mold issues.
"I have the right for me and my kids to be breathing in air that is safe, or not have hives or allergies, or be stopped up, or you know have a hard time breathing, or be disoriented because mold can do that as well," said Amerson.
Amerson says that the apartment maintenance crew just wiped and painted over the visible mold on her laundry room ceiling.
Concerned about the molds long term effects on her health, she asked her doctor to run tests.
"My bloodwork and my urine show that I had been affected, it's so high it's off the charts," said Amerson.
That's when Amerson decided to get Randy Holman, The City of Orange Building Inspector, to take a look.
"We found that she had the possibility of mold stains in the ceiling of her wash room that's adjoining to Ms. Petesy Adams," said Holman.
12News spoke to to Adams back in June about similar mold issues in the ceiling above her laundry room.
According to Holman, the mold and water damage spread from Adams unit next door to Amerson's.
He says the ceiling will need to be cut out to properly remove the mold spores.
"Now we can get ahold of maintenance and see if they can give us a time frame when they gone go in and abate this unit, because we want to be on that site when they do it to see if there's mold spores on that sheetrock," said Holman.
The city is now requesting that Holman be present during that process.
"I feel it's necessary for me to be there so I can actually witness and verify, because I don't want none of the debris to be taken without me being able to see it," said Holman.
Meanwhile, Amerson says she's not just concerned about her family, but others who are afraid of being retaliated against for voicing concerns about health issues at the complex.
"They use the lack of knowledge over the tenants to be able to retaliate and abuse in the court of law, and a lot of times even when you go to court or you're dealing with legal situations people don't even know where to start to get answers," said Amerson.
According to Homan, they've been emailing the property manager to set a date for the mold abatement process.