NEW ORLEANS — Marvett Johnson lives at the Willows Apartments, in New Orleans East. The main bedroom in her apartment is now uninhabitable. The mold so overpowering, Eyewitness News crews couldn't stay in there for more than five minutes.
"We can't even sleep in the bedrooms, we have to sleep here," Johnson said.
The mold she says is now impacting her health.
"Next Tuesday I am going to the ENT... Last week I was so sick I couldn't even talk," Johnson said.
Mrs. Johnson and her family are breathing in this mold. Additionally, the apartment is facing a rat and roach infestation.
"Roach in the ceiling, everywhere is nothing but roach," Johnson said.
"Three four times a week, five, six rats every morning."
Mrs. Johnson has lived here for seven years and said the mold problem started three years ago. In that time she's contacted property management more than 70 times.
Willows Apartments said they sent maintenance crews out three times, but no one was home to let them in.
"They don't fix nothing, they don't do nothing, all they do is collect money," Johnson said. "Since 2019 we have been asking for them to move us from this unit."
Mrs. Johnson said a staff member did come to the apartment.
"She took some pictures, she never came back that was about three weeks ago," Johnson said.
Eyewitness News showed the same footage we captured inside Mrs. Johnsons apartment to Karen Macey-Stewart from Loyola's School of Nursing, Councilman Oliver Thomas and Loyola University's housing justice expert Davida Finger. All agreed the conditions are unlivable.
Macey-Stewart confirmed the mold is dangerous. She said that is black mold, which can cause respiratory issues, itching, wheezing, loss of appetite and memory loss, and can be fatal.
"This is worse than being in a third world country," she said.
Eyewitness News explained that Mrs. Johnson's toilet doesn't flush.
"That is inhumane, that is totally inhumane in this day and age," Macey-Stewart said.
Property records list the owner of the complex as "GMF-Preservation of Affordability Corp." A non-profit owned by Dr Richard Hamlet, an ordained minster and CEO of the ministry Outreach Foundation.
He also owns two other complexes in the metro area, and has bought Section 8 properties across the country over the last decade.
As far back as 2016, Senator Marco Rubio on the Senate Floor described the violations Hamlet's properties have broken in the past, across multiple states.
Hamlet and his nonprofit have been the target of lawsuits, and federal agents raided his Tennessee offices in 2016, after an investigation found poor living conditions at three of his properties in Memphis.
In an online interview posted to YouTube back in 2016, he addressed his critics.
"The age of these properties and the condition in a lot of the units and wear tear and just people living in the units, there's things that need to be upgraded and repaired that's an ongoing process," Hamlet said.
Mrs. Johnson is taking a stand and won't pay rent for July and August, but now property management is taking her to court.
Councilman Oliver Thomas says he's on the tenant's side.
"Any landlord or property manager that would put them out because they're not paying to live, I would say that person is probably from hell," Thomas said.
He says he's working on legislation that would protect tenants.
"I'm looking at legislation that puts money into escrow so it doesn't go to slumlords and absentee landlords that collect money that don't maintain their property," Thomas said.
According to legal experts, the law is clear, landlords have a responsibility.
"Louisiana law places clear duties on property owners for maintenance and upkeep and place care duties to respond to tenants timely when there unsafe and inhabitable conditions," Davida Finger said.
With our help a lawyer said she's willing to help Mrs. Johnson ahead of her court hearing on August 23rd.
The Willows Apartments said in recent months they've spent more than $2 million repairing the complex.