Federal government voids inspection of Eureka Garden; will review apartment management

In light of revelations about unhealthy and unsafe conditions at Eureka Garden apartments, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has admitted its inspections and approval of the complex two months ago were inadequate.

The department has called for a do-over and dismissed the earlier inspections.

HUD contractors had inspected the federally subsidized apartments and scored it an 85 out of 100. Then city inspectors took a look two weeks ago and found mold, cockroaches and decaying stairways.

The contractors HUD hired did not use a fair sample, said Alesia Scott-Ford, field office director for the local HUD office. The complex is technically divided into two separate Eureka Garden properties, so when the inspectors only looked at a sample of 24 apartments, they messed up, she said.

"It was huge that they invalidated" the inspections, Councilman Garrett Dennis said. "To me, that's an admission there's something wrong."

There were 71 multi-family properties that HUD pays in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach that received inspections in the past five years.

"I think this is the tip of the iceberg," Dennis said. "I don't think this is just happening in Jacksonville. I think this may be a national issue."

Scott-Ford said she didn't know who the contractors were but said they were selected by officials in Washington, D.C. Last week, the Times-Union requested HUD's contractor records, but the department hasn't yet provided them.

Eureka Garden has 400 apartments. Now, HUD staff - not contractors - are inspecting every single apartment at the complex, and every single apartment at two other complexes in northwest Jacksonville owned by the same nonprofit, Global Ministries Foundation.

Scott-Ford said the inspectors will finish their new Eureka Garden reports this week.

Also this week, HUD will review Global Ministries' property management, she said, "how they handle their repairs, their response time, how they keep their filings, their payments, things of that nature.

"I think they could've done a better job and could've been a lot faster" with repairs, she added. She has immediate concerns about crumbling stairs and the lack of carbon monoxide detectors throughout the complex.

The Rev. Richard Hamlet, who leads the nonprofit, said by email that he was out of the country all week but he'd be available for an interview next week. Hamlet earned $485,000 in his position with the ministry in 2013, the most recent year tax records are available.

The federal government paid Global Ministries $3.2 million in rent in 2013.

Since December 2012, the federal government paid Global Ministries about $7.8 million in rent for the 400 apartments at Eureka Garden.

Global Ministries' director of housing services Michelle Bird did not respond to an email Wednesday.

If Global Ministries has not contacted the city's building inspection division by Thursday, the city said it will forward the violations to the State Attorney's Office for criminal prosecution.

The city's building division said Global Ministries must hire an engineer and file a permit to fix the cracking, crumbling stairs outside the apartments.

If the nonprofit doesn't comply, HUD can instead give Section 8 vouchers to the local Jacksonville Housing Authority, and its approved landlords could take in the about 400 families at Eureka Garden.

"We're going to have a Plan B in place to make sure those residents get what they need," Dennis said.

If Global Ministries was able to purchase $350 million of these types of apartments, as the nonprofits' 2013 tax records say, then the system of multifamily housing might be broken, Dennis said. "This is a prime example."

Living with mold and pests, experts say, can lead to health problems. If residents are getting sick, Dennis likes to say, then no matter where Jacksonville taxpayers live, they have to pay for ambulances to come to Eureka Garden.

He said he's been impressed by the commitment of Mayor Lenny Curry and Reps. Ander Crenshaw and Corrine Brown to tackling problems at the apartments. Brown brought HUD officials to City Hall Tuesday. Crenshaw will meet with them Thursday. Meanwhile, Curry has met with them several times, and he brought city inspectors to the apartments, calling their conditions "heartbreaking."

"This is huge," Dennis said. "Now you see this compassionate side of government stepping in for residents that thought a few months ago, a few weeks ago, they didn't have a voice."

Andrew Pantazi: (904) 359-4310