Mired in mold: Tests show problem rampant in public housing

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Monday, Feb. 28, 2005 | 10:57 a.m.

On a recent visit to a West Las Vegas cinder-block house, the rain had lifted for a few hours and 16-month-old Jhirimerah Hooks was outside, getting her new overalls dirty.

But should she step inside the house and play in one of the two bedrooms where a black streak slides across the baseboard, her playful smile could change to a cough, like she has "something in her throat -- only nothing comes up," said her mother, Stephanie Galvin.

Galvin said the youngest of her four children has been sick for a little more than a month, shortly after she noticed black mold growing in her hallway. She has since noticed mold in the bedrooms.

There are so many other housing authority families like Galvin's who are or may be living with mold in their homes that housing authority board member Franny Forsman on Feb. 11 asked for the agency's staff to deliver a report on the problem at the board's March 11 meeting.

"I want to make sure people are not living in units where there's mold ... and (that) we have a program to ensure they're safe," Forsman said.

The problem cost the authority nearly $336,000 during a 15-month period ending Dec. 31, 2004, when mold was found in 128 of 146 apartments tested.

Those funds included testing for mold, moving people to new housing when mold was discovered and getting rid of the mold while apartments were kept vacant.

In a recent three-week period beginning Jan. 24, 11 apartments were tested and all had mold. Records from those tests show that some of the apartments were found with Stachybotrys, a black mold that the housing authority refers to as "dangerous" in a leasing addendum it issues.

Costs not measured by the authority include direct and indirect expenses linked to health problems in tenants that may be caused or worsened by mold.

There is also no measure of what it costs the system to keep apartments vacant while they're being fixed or what the impact is of putting the brakes on waiting lists to get into public housing whenever tenants have to be relocated due to mold, according to Richard Martinez, deputy executive director of the housing authority.

There are 2,314 public, federally subsidized apartments -- including 819 for senior citizens -- under the housing authority's management, Martinez said. The money spent on dealing with mold comes from a capital fund of about $3 million that is used for maintaining and renovating apartments over time.

That means about 10 percent of the budget for fixing buildings that are from 20 to 40 years old goes to mold.

"That's a lot of money," said Amparo Gamazo, project manager for the modernization and development department of the housing authority.

At the same time, she said, Las Vegas is the only agency that "treats the issue as if it was something like asbestos -- even though it's not regulated."

"The (Las Vegas Housing Authority's) mold procedure goes far beyond any other housing authority in the nation."

She said agency executives knew shortly after the first case was reported in 1999 that mold "could affect health." The agency initiated a system in 2000 whereby managers and maintenance workers are trained to report any suspected cases of mold within 24 hours. After that, tests are done. If they're positive, abatement of the problem and relocation of tenants is scheduled.

Christine Siksa, director of the legislation and programming division of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, said the fact that the Las Vegas Housing Authority is "keeping track of the costs of tests, remediation and relocation ... is more sophisticated that I've seen in other housing authorities."

Siksa's nonprofit organization represents 3,000 of the nation's 3,100 housing authorities, including Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Clark County.

She also said that the Las Vegas Housing Authority's amount of expenditure on mold and its use of capital funds instead of maintenance budget funds to pay those bills "means they have a problem."

Don England, chief executive of the North Las Vegas Housing Authority, said his agency doesn't have a system in place to deal with mold.

"If the federal government ever raised it to the level where it was required we would have a policy," he said.

Clark County Housing Authority officials did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.

Meanwhile, in West Las Vegas, Galvin said she is growing impatient with a 2-month-long series of events in which her only written notice from the authority was its intention to test for mold.

Meanwhile, she has been taking her four children to sleep at her mother's house for the last few weeks.

"At my mom's house, there's no coughing, no nothing," she said.

But the symptoms come back when she returns during the day, and worsen if she turns the heat on. She said she has been to the doctor and given her child cold remedies.

Galvin said she first reported the problem in the beginning of January and got a notice Jan. 20 announcing a testing date of Jan. 24. After hearing nothing about two weeks after the test, she called the property manager assigned to her apartment, who told her mold was discovered and that her family would have to be relocated.

On Wednesday she was told an apartment was available in the neighborhood where she currently resides, but she said she's scared that the new apartment will also have mold, since she has spoken to three neighbors who have had problems with mold.

On Thursday she said the apartment manager told her she could be relocated to an apartment nearby by next week -- but that it had three bedrooms instead of the four in her current apartment.

But she still has received nothing in writing.

"I'm up in the air," she said.

Las Vegas Housing Authority officials did not respond to requests seeking comment on Galvin's case.

One of Galvin's fears -- that she would be relocated to an apartment also containing mold -- might not be so far-fetched, judging by housing authority records.

The house she lives in was vacant for 2 1/2 months prior to her moving in on July 16 because mold was found. Housing authority records indicate tests were done and the "mold rehab completed" date was June 25.

By Thanksgiving, however, Galvin was complaining to the housing authority about leaks in her apartment, according to letters she sent her property manager. At the turn of the new year, she found mold following the same route as the leaks.

Martinez, the housing authority deputy executive director, said there is no system in place to flag properties that have been detected with mold more than once.

"We take care of the problem and if necessary the cycle repeats itself," he said.

As for the underlying causes of mold in an apartment that is repeatedly treated for the problem, Gamazo said circumstances can change over time and from tenant to tenant.

She said tenants are sometimes to blame because of habits like running hot water in bathtubs for a long time, creating a lot of humidity.

In a written explanation about the causes of mold, Gamaro said "it is found in the air and soil and grows where water leaks and floods have damaged building materials."

Meanwhile, families in dozens of households managed by the housing authority try to determine if health problems they are facing have anything to do with a problem they feel their landlords should fix.

Joann Schimbeck said two of her three grandchildren -- Julian, 9, and Chico, 10 -- have had a worsening case of asthma in recent months, the same time period in which she has seen what appears to be mold in her apartment.

Dr. Neil Phillips, pediatrician for the two boys, said that mold is a "definite concern" for children with allergies and asthma.

He said that if he knew a family lived in a home with "significant exposure" to mold, he would consider it "a warning light in the back of my mind" and might be more aggressive in his treatment.

Nancy Hall, senior environmental health specialist for the Clark County Health District, said the health impacts of mold are "extremely dependent on the people living in the household, how long the mold has been there, whether it's dry or not and what type of mold it is."

Mold can be responsible for symptoms ranging from "triggering asthma in people that are asthma-sensitive to constantly having a cold or cold-like symptoms."

At the same, she said, "there is nothing concrete" as far as data that would support federal regulations.

"We know it's causing a problem but can't put an epidemiological thumb on it."

Still, Hall said, "in general you should get rid of any mold you find."

Martinez said he had "not heard any health claims" related to mold in housing authority properties.

Gamazo said the authority would continue to seek out mold, but relied on tenants to report it.

At the same time, she said, mold is a problem that is hard to solve altogether.

"It's not like ... (you) go in, remove it and it's never going to come back. It's impossible to control."