Crew cleans up rotting mold in woman’s apartment after nearly 4 months
Vernisa Depass has been dealing with extensive mold covering the walls and door of her bedroom inside her apartment since March.
By Shosh Bedrosian
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NEW YORK, New York (WCBS) — Back in May, a Bronx woman sent CBS News New York a tip about excessive mold in her home. Now, nearly four months later, she’s finally seeing action by management.
Since March, Vernisa Depass has been dealing with extensive mold covering the walls and door of her bedroom inside her apartment.
Bronx woman says she suffered lung infection from mold
It is hard to fathom breathing in mold for nearly four months, watching your bedroom decay and rot as it grows from wall to wall. Depass says she’s now dealing with the repercussions.
“The lung infection came from the mold, from what my doctor said, they did a test in my blood,” she said.
After CBS News New York’s story aired, New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development upgraded a previous violation for the “visible mold condition.”
“I appreciate you for contacting HPD 100% and putting the pressure on them,” Depass said.
Crews demolish walls, floorboards to address mold problem On Thursday, a crew came to remove the eyesore by demolishing the walls and floorboards. Depass said finally management is doing something, but it should have never taken this long.
“I feel like I’ve been to hell and back … I just feel like they should have never left me in a health hazard place this long,” she said.
Management on site tells CBS News New York they weren’t aware of the HPD violations because they took officially took over the building in April and transitioned their management in June.
“These landlords always want rent, but how you gonna want rent if you’re not doing the repairs? It’s like y’all trying to kill me with the mold,” she said.
HPD tells CBS News New York in a statement: “Every New Yorker deserves a safe, mold free home; We are working to fix this problem quickly and are coordinating with the tenant to gain access for repairs. Anyone struggling with mold issues should call 311 immediately.”
The agency also said they attempted and completed several inspections of the apartment and issued various violations for mold over the past few years. The Emergency Repair Program has attempted to perform mold remediation in response to two violations unsuccessfully, because of access limitations.
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