COLUMBIA, S.C. — (WLTX) -- On January 17th, two men died from carbon monoxide poisoning at the Allen Benedict Court Apartments. Since then our News19 Deep Dive team has worked to hold the powerful accountable.
In the past six weeks a lot has happened, so we wanted to break down the most recent stories.
Executive Director Gilbert Walker's retirement announcement: Walker will stay on until June 30th and will oversee some structural changes before he leaves.
News19 learned Walker receives full South Carolina state benefits. A person retiring after 40 years of service and making more than $111,000 a year would be eligible for a retirement payment more than $6,000. Walker currently makes $167,262.84 for this fiscal year.
RELATED: Columbia Housing Authority director announces retirement, one month after deaths, evacuation
Property records: We also took a look at the Columbia Housing Authority's property records where we found Walker is listed as the registered agent. In a prior board meeting Walker raved about the success the authority has had through out the years buying a selling properties.
"One of the things that I did was I knew that we could not depend on the federal government in order to get the funds that would be coming in. And I have aggressively been going out there trying to find units in the private sector, purchasing along with the banks and then turning around and actually selling the units to private owners with the authority could reap some of the finances and use it for some of the same things we're using it for now," Walker said.
Resident vouchers: Out of the 411 displaced residents there are 214 families who have found homes. 123 families are still searching but 179 section 8 vouchers have been given out.
A Housing Authority Section 8 inspector showed us what they have to check for before someone can move into a unit. He told us this is protocol for all Section 8 housing.
The first batch of Section 8 housing vouchers were given out on January 25th. A resident has 60 days to use that voucher before having to reapply. March 26th is when the first set expires.
Housing Authority Spokeswoman Cynthia Hardy said some families could end up paying more for rent.
"I do know that our demographics say that there were maybe about a quarter of them that were not paying at all to be there. So, with the tragedy in mind, yes they're going to have to pay something," Hardy said. "Our team is able to help with this, look at what they are used to, trying to see how closely we can come to that in the open market."
Residents are still being kept from moving back into Allen Benedict Court. There are no signs of activity or work underway at the property. There are only two options for that complex, either demolition and rebuilding or fixing the current maintenance issues.
Housing Authority Attorney and former Columbia Mayor Bob Coble said this decision will not be made until the four vacant board member seats are filled.
City Councilwoman Tameika Devine said they had 39 applicants and they hope to appoint new members at their next council meeting Tuesday, March 5th.
OUR PROBE:
WLTX's Deep Dive team has done extensive work in exposing what's been happening at Columbia Housing Authority. During our pursuit of the truth, two of our reporters were even arrested, but we were later issued an apology.
WHAT WE'VE FOUND:
In our investigation, we've uncovered previous maintenance problems in the units at Allen Benedict Court, that showed there were concerns about the units well before January 17th. We have a mountain of documents related to the case, as well as interviews with residents, and we continue to present new information each day.
You can see more into our probe below:
RELATED: DEEP DIVE: Work orders highlight potentially life-threatening problems at Allen Benedict Court
RELATED: 'Maybe they care, maybe they don't' Columbia Housing resident speaks out about maintenance issues
RELATED: EMS radio recordings describe moments after man was found in his apartment at Allen Benedict Court
RELATED: Allen Benedict Court work orders show history of maintenance issues at deceased resident's apartment
LAWSUITS:
There have also been multiple lawsuits filed in connection to the case. You can see our coverage of those below.