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Tenants of southwest Atlanta apartment complex fed up with ‘inhumane conditions’ – WSB-TV Channel 2

Theo

ATLANTA — Tenants at the Fairburn and Gordon apartment complex in southwest Atlanta say they’ve had enough.

“It’s not a baby project, it’s not even a ghetto, it’s a gutter, a sewer gutter,” Deborah Love said. Ashli ​​Lincoln, Channel 2 investigative reporter.

They attended a status hearing Thursday about the slow progress the owners say they are making. Last month, the city of Atlanta ordered the property owner to make fixes to more than 300 code violations. Owners were supposed to have adequate pest control, trash service, security, landscaping and working air conditioning in all units before the 30-day deadline.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended all funding due to these violations.

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“I agree with what the city is doing because even if they are able to keep these apartments, what they are doing is trying to make people better off,” said tenant Sylvania Cooper to investigative journalist Ashli ​​Lincoln.

Several tenants told Lincoln they still don’t have air conditioning.

“How they did, that’s what we want to know,” Crystal Brown said.

The DA’s office says that while progress has been made, the majority of progress has been on vacant homes, not occupied homes.

Judge Christopher Portis ordered the owner to pay a $35,000 fine by the close of business tomorrow. If this deadline is not respected, the judge could decide to demolish the property.

“We cannot allow this in this city, we cannot tolerate this in this city” Nathaniel Smith, founder of Partnership for Southern Equity.

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Partnership for Southern Equity works with tenants to advocate for better living conditions.

“I think it’s a shame that we allowed residents to exist in this space and live in these spaces that would have been inhumane conditions,” Sterling Johnson said.

Channel 2 Action News I learned that the owners live in California. Their lawyer representing them declined to comment.

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