Contractors Finally On-Site at High Forest Apts. after Five Months of Wet, Molding Living Conditions

In March of this year, storms swept through our area, ripping roofs off houses, demolishing barns, and tearing trees from the ground at the roots. While most of that destruction has been cleared, and structures rebuilt, the community at High Forest Apartments on North Walnut Street has been living with wet insulation falling from the massive holes in their ceilings, floors flooding every time a hard rain falls, and the smell of mold due to the consistently wet, open area.

Damage can be found in 80% of the apartments, according to Hohenwald Building Inspector Brad Rasbury, and for five months now, tenants of High Forest Apartments have lived in conditions that are beyond disgusting and nearly unsuitable for living. However, most residents have lived at the complex for years and have nowhere else to go. So, they stay. They wait. They hope.

And according to Rasbury and City of Hohenwald Mayor Danny McKnight, the task of getting pushed off on several different people with several different stories has been daunting, and they fear the extreme of shutting the complex down if nothing can be done soon. "We've had no luck getting in touch with corporate, anybody."

Hallmark Properties, managing 290 apartment complexes across the South, prides themselves in "establishing enriched housing for families, elderly and other individuals who are in need of quality affordable housing opportunities." However, tenants of the complex say otherwise. "I've been here for 12 years," says Sheila Turner, "and it has been like this the whole time. Moldy, huge pot holes you can't hardly get around, it's ridiculous. And yes, some might see these contractors out here working today, but what good is it going to do? They're putting shingles on, when we need new roofs. New shingles are not going to fix the holes in the ceiling, and they're not going to stop the rain coming through." Neighbor, Rickey Westbrooks, agrees. "I'm left without a bedroom and have had to put my entire life's belongings into a single room."

Another resident tells, "All the water coming through the roof ruined all of my stuff. It's literally sitting in a POOL OF WATER IN MY HOME. I need a lawyer, because my life has been turned upside down. This is not right or fair to anyone living here." Hannah Beard agrees and shows pictures of the molded walls and flooring.

After being cited in court, and threatened with sizable fines, the contractors were found on the roofs of one of the buildings Tuesday morning, August 8th, and plan to stay until the job is complete. Residents were glad to see them "putting band aids on," but "hope the complex will move on to actually fixing the wet carpets, molding walls, and more."