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Fairmont Terrace Apartments One of the worst HUD dumps there are Tulsa, Oklahoma
We moved in here April of 2006. First of all if they repainted & shampooed the carpet you couldn't tell. Otherwise I had to clean it while moving into it. Then I had a few work orders right off the bat.
I had 3 major problems with the apartment.
1) Every time the people above us took a shower or overflowed their toilet we got rained on. I complained but they blew me off so next thing you know the ceiling caves in. Luckily no one was standing in our shower when it happened. Rather then send an actual maintenance man they sent fellow residents, many of whom sexually harassed me in my own "home". I could've done a better patch job myself. And they didn't do anything about the upstairs. People had even moved out giving them the opportunity to truly fix this problem. Yet the next people moved in & the same thing happened...we got rained on.
2) It's one hot water heater per building so when it goes out the whole building goes without. The hot water heaters were ancient...but rather then replace them they just rigged them to work a while longer. So they were constantly going out. At least once we did without hot water almost a full week. My child was still in school plus worked part time & I didn't care to send her stinky so people could think me abusive/neglectful. I asked them to set aside an empty apartment so when this happens people could go somewhere & take a shower. They refused.
3) The furnaces were just as ancient as the hot water heaters. And according to their maintenance man they never worked right in the first place. They had to add a special part to each one for it to kick on & off. Our special part broke. So every 30 minutes or so I had to push a button, risking electric shock, to make it work. Of course I couldn't sit up all night babysitting this thing. I called for maintenance. I was blown off. They replaced the AC before they ever fixed this problem...& it was the furnace the whole time. I had to take a picture of the special part that broke & send it to their main office before they finally came & fixed this problem.
This is supposedly a free country. We supposedly have rights. But when you move into public housing you have none. They called this place a prison because it was completely gated...with only one way in & out. At the entrance/exit they had a little security booth where the guards occasionally harassed people to see their driver's license & insurance before they could enter. But since they weren't there 24/7/365 criminals were still coming & going. So basically all they really did was embarrass us.
My kid's friends dropped her off from school one day. The big sister who was driving the car had a driver's license & insurance. The little sister, who was only 16, didn't even have an ID. So they forced her to get out of the car & stand in the heat while the big sister dropped my kid off. When I complained about this they tried to tell me first of all it's private property & they can do what they want. They also tried to tell me kids can commit crimes too. I know this because I saw several resident's kids trash the place & security did nothing about that. But these kids' mom was a nurse & you could tell by looking at them they were good kids.
Another time we came "home" to learn one of our neighbors robbed a bank earlier in the day so the place was swarming with cops trying to catch them. First their security tried to tell me we couldn't enter. But we had no where else to go & they were not keeping us out. So then they forced me to park my car in the street & walk all the way back to our apartment. Luckily we didn't get shot in any kind of cross fire as the robber wasn't even there. Also luckily I found my car where I left it the next day.
Yet another time I decided to go out with a couple of friends. 2 of us decided to leave our cars parked at my "home" & ride with the 3rd. As we all drove in security checked our driver's license & insurance. When we came back a couple of hours later our designated driver didn't want to mess with security so they dropped us off at the gate. Even though they'd seen me a thousand times, even though they'd just looked at our driver's licenses a couple of hours ago, even though we were walking...they tried to harass us again. So I went off. They're not going to treat me like I'm a criminal & harass me because I'm disabled & poor. They took our driver's licenses like they were going to call them in & see if we had any warrants & I told them go ahead. I don't even have unpaid tickets. In fact I've had maybe 3-4 tickets tops in all my driving years. I called them every name in the book all the way "home". Then I reported them yet again the next day.
Now let's talk about the noise level plus the abuse & neglect that went on right in front of your face that they did nothing about. I'm sorry. If you were white they might do something about it. Indeed...my white upstairs neighbor let her 11 year old go over to a friend's by himself in broad daylight & she got wrote up for it. But my African American downstairs neighbor...she let her kids run wild all day & night...including her toddler who was sometimes half naked even in the middle of winter...& nothing.
People came in all hours of the day & night with their car radios blaring & nothing. Rather then take things to their apartments residents would sit in the parking lot or on their balcony & have full blown conversations or arguments so all their neighbors knew their business whether they wanted to or not. I couldn't leave my balcony door open due to people either trying to sexually harass me or sell me drugs. But the worst thing was the kids running around like wild animals trashing everything. They treated apartment buildings like club houses & would run up & down the stairs & up & down the halls screaming. And if you said anything to them they'd go get their mom. I had one lady threaten me because I dared tell her child to keep it down.
The laundry room had been trashed. Most of the doors on the buildings were broke & would constantly slam every time somebody went in or out. On either side of the doors were windows & most of those were cracked. I don't know why they had exit signs but most of them were broken. There were holes in the walls. For some stupid reason the fuse boxes were in the hallways & you could see where people had tried to break into them. Attic doors were missing. Empty apartments were at the very least broken into if not trashed. But rather then figure out who's doing this & punish them they treat us all like we're scum of the earth.
I've seen kids who shouldn't have been out alone in the first place ride their bikes into my car then just take off. I've also seen kids sit on my car. Call & report them & their parents for letting them run wild & nothing. Security did nothing. Management did nothing. So I went over their heads to their manager...to be accused of trying to slander neighbors I don't even know. They even thought they were going to force me to come in for a meeting to talk about my slandering neighbors. They thought wrong.
I reported this place to HUD. I mean...don't think for one minute these people aren't getting their full market rent on these dumps. HUD's paying for it. They also give them so much per year to keep the place fixed up & they were obviously pocketing the money. They also supposedly come by occasionally to inspect the place. But if they're showing up at all I guess they're allowing such places to take them to the few decent buildings & apartments they do have. HUD inspectors need to go through every building & at least one or two apartments per building...randomly. They need to pick the place...not be led to it.
I reported this place to HUD but evidently my email floated around from mailbox to mailbox unread. Nobody ever showed up. I didn't even get a phone call 'til it was too late. But this didn't stop this dump from retaliating...which according to HUD's website is illegal. I won SSDI 10/07 & I informed them, their bosses & HUD when it happened. They tried to come back & say I didn't report it & I'd owe back rent & blah blah blah. Luckily I saved that email. They tried to charge me $25 for a maintenance call. They tried several things...to no avail. It ended with them giving me a 30 day notice to vacate for "complaining too much".
I went through that whole place & got people to sign a petition stating I had every right to complain. Several people dragged me into their apartments to show me things they'd complained about to no avail. In quite a few buildings people are sick because of mold yet they do nothing. I got pics & posted them online for the whole world to see. And it was a forum where other people could join & throw in their 2 cents...which a few did. I had witnesses. I even had a video. I sent a link to this site to the apartments, their managers, HUD, the health dept. & the news...all to no avail. Legal aid told me they'd help me fight if I decided to stay but if I lost it'd screw up my credit. Otherwise they couldn't help me sue as they don't have the funds for it.
Again...HUD's own site says retaliation is illegal. So I made a formal complaint. Over a year later they called to tell me first of all this place is slandering me. I didn't get a single write up while living there but after I move out they fill my file with write ups claiming I raced my car though the place & almost ran over kids. Otherwise they tell me there's nothing they can do for me but if I want to hire an attorney & sue I'm welcome to. Even if I could afford an attorney I doubt one in TX would help me sue a dump in OK.
On an episode of Glee a history teacher told the kids you need to learn about history so we don't make the same mistakes over & over. This is so true. If you read about the history of the poor house you'll see very little if anything's changed. They still dump children, the poor, the mentally ill, the disabled & the elderly all in one place together & leave them to rot. And even after the Titanic we still treat human beings like they're 3rd class steerage. And for these reasons I'll be homeless/dead before I ever deal with another public housing dump again.