North Carolina law students are putting their lessons into practice, assisting the nearly 200 low-income seniors, many of them with disabilities, at Durham’s JFK Towers who have been complaining about bugs, a broken elevator and billing issues.
The Civil Justice Clinic gives the students courtroom experience, under the tutelage of two professors, and offers a glimmer of hope to the residents of JFK Towers.
“We’re living in hell,” Johnetta Alston, resident of Durham’s JFK Towers, said. “I’m hearing my neighbors, ‘I have roaches, I have bed bugs, I have water bugs out the wazoo.’”
Alston says her breaking point came last summer when she shot a video inside a 99-year-old friend’s apartment.
“I found out her tub had been overflowing with sewage for three and a half weeks; that was the day I said no more,” Alston said.
That led her to the Civil Justice Clinic.
“Well, it’s been the most, in my opinion, the most important thing I’ve done since I’ve been in law school,” Anighya Crocker, Duke University Law Student, said.
Crocker, part of the university’s Civil Justice Clinic, has worked to bring a 46-page suit against Millennia Housing Management, the owner of JFK Towers.
“I just keep thinking, what if this was my nanny? What if this was my grandmother?” Crocker said. “And that really sort of lit a fire under me and really made me care about this case.”
The suit against Millennia is just one of several currently being brought against the Ohio-based housing company and comes five years after Millennia bought JFK Towers.
In a statement to WRAL, a Millennia spokesperson said the company “strongly denies the allegations” brought in the lawsuit, and “All rents and associated fees have been collected in accordance with HUD standards, and we vehemently deny all accusations of deceptive and unfair practices.”
The spokesperson also noted “several of the issues outlined in the complaint have been addressed or will be addressed as part of” an ongoing, multi-million dollar renovation.
The lawsuit seeks a return of tenants’ rent payments, penalties and compensation for tenants who’ve had to endure conditions like these for years.
“We think it should be several million dollars,” Alston said.
However, Alston says it isn’t about the money for her.
She wants to see Millennia deliver on its promise to give residents a safe, clean and functional place to live.
“Fix the building the way it’s supposed to be,” Alston said.
The Duke law clinic professors and students say they’re prepared for a long, drawn-out fight.
Millennia Housing has retained their own counsel for this case.
