OVERLAND, Mo. – At the Woodson Park Apartments, one long-time resident has been dealing with an ongoing issue for months. Despite no clear answers from management, Nichelle Vanhook has concerns for her family.
“What is this – is it water? Is it mold?” Vanhook said.
The ceiling stains first appeared in January in Vanhook’s apartment. In her nine years living at the complex, Vanhook said she’s never seen anything like this.
It’s something that’s been a problem for her and her family for the past few months.
Vanhook’s concerns are rooted in where the stains are located – in the same room where her children, ages 8, 3, and 1, sleep.
With months going by, she’s left with questions concerning their safety.
“What are they breathing in? Ya know, like, what is this?” she said.
Vanhook said she reported the spots to management previously.
“They came and they painted over it and everything,” she said. “But yet here we are. The spots are back again.”
It took only a few short weeks for the spots to return.
“The issue was only covered up,” Vanhook said. “The issue was never resolved from the jump.”
Several maintenance requests have been ignored, Vanhook said. She took a short trip down her stairwell to the complex’s main office. The lack of action has left Vanhook frustrated.
“This could be affecting the air, it’s right by the fan, so it could be blowing it around,” she said. “I don’t know what it is, and no one’s came to figure it out, either.”
FOX 2 contacted apartment management about the issue.
Shortly thereafter, Vanhook received a posted letter on her front door, stating both a roofing service and pest control team would be out on June 1 to investigate the matter.
“I shouldn’t have to do all this just to get someone to come up here and look at it,” Vanhook said.
She’s noticed a decline in the quality of life at complex since changes in management, which she’s seen twice in her nine years of living there. The mother of three said if she could afford to leave the complex, they’d be gone by now. FOX 2 asked Woodson Park Apartments for maintenance records and a statement on camera. They declined both requests.
FOX 2 asked other residents around the property if they’ve experienced similar problems. While some say maintenance issues are something they’ll see once in a while, residents in nearby buildings have not seen the same brown spots Vanhook has been dealing with in her building.
As Vanhook and her family wait for the problem to be fixed, the circumstance they’ve been in for months is something she feels is unacceptable.
“I call this home, and I’m not comfortable in my home, so that’s a problem,” she said.