Exclusive: Tenants claim Asbury Park apartment building is infested with roaches
Nicole Butler says her apartment is infested with roaches, part of her kitchen ceiling has collapsed and there are many leaks in the ceiling.
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A resident of an Asbury Park apartment building welcomed News 12 New Jersey exclusively into her home to show us the unsafe conditions she is living in.
Nicole Butler has been a resident at Lincoln Village in Asbury Park for three years. She says she wishes to move out of the building, but she says that rent is too expensive at other places.
Butler states that roaches are multiplying by the minute, not only inside her unit but in the entire complex on Memorial Drive.
"Almost two months ago, my ceiling fell. I was telling them that it was leaking, that it is going to fall, and it has been like that almost two months and they still ain't fix it,” Butler says.
Butler claims she has contacted the Asbury Park Housing Authority many times. She says that about four months ago, they came to make what she thought would be repairs.
"I called maintenance the other day because it was leaking, and they said, ‘No problem,’ and knocked on my door with a bucket. They said to make sure I have enough buckets for when it rains,” says Butler.
News 12 visited another apartment and met Alette Brown. She has been living at Lincoln Village for 20 years.
"I put the tapes right here (in the bathroom) to cover all the holes and stuff," Brown said.
Her bathroom is not only breaking into pieces, but she constantly has to clean her kitchen out because it gets filled with roaches.
Residents are begging for better and healthier living conditions at the complex.
News 12 has learned that the Housing Authority is actively exploring all options for the redevelopment of the building.
A spokesperson for the Housing Authority wrote in a statement, "The APHA remains committed to ensuring safe and habitable dwellings for our residents. The APHA is fully aware of the conditions of Ms. Butler's home, and we have been diligently working to remedy the current conditions. The APHA has been in contact with the Monmouth County Health Department to ensure the habitability of Ms. Butler’s unit while we procure a contractor to complete repairs expeditiously."
