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Columbia Housing Authority Director claims he did not know CO detector requirements

At a special called meeting, Director claims he did not know of requirement for carbon monoxide detectors

COLUMBIA, S.C. — At a special called meeting of the Columbia Housing Authority Board of Commissioners Director Gilbert Walker said they will put carbon monoxide detectors at every CHA property that uses gas utilities or appliances.

Walker claims their apartment complexes have already been supplied with CO detectors, but the roughly 250 individual CHA houses are a work in progress.

He expects work to be done at all the houses by early next week.

Up until the two deaths at Allen Benedict Court last month, Walker claimed he did not know of detector requirements.

“To my knowledge, it is not a requirement that HUD has. HUD came into our units in 2017 and carbon monoxide detectors were never mentioned. It was never mentioned. I found out about it a couple of weeks ago that a new law was passed in 2015, but I don't know how good the information got out to individuals. My understanding is that everybody that's got housing, including in your own personal house, that you're supposed to have it in, and I doubt if that that's the case right now,” Walker told a board commissioner.

The commissioner, Jennifer Rubin, had asked if it was a HUD requirement to inspect Section 8 housing for carbon monoxide detectors.

The Columbia Housing Authority's own ‘Administrative Plan for the Housing Choice Voucher Program,’ which is posted to the authority's website, says it is a requirement.

Under a section titled ‘Life Threatening Conditions,’ it lists inoperable or missing carbon monoxide detectors as a priority.

The document says that those type of violations must be fixed within 24-hours of being found and recorded.

The document lists carbon monoxide detectors as a Columbia Housing Authority policy. The document is dated July 1, 2017.

You can read the document here.

WLTX has reached out to the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation for more clarity on South Carolina building code.

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. 

RELATED: Columbia Housing Authority on reporter arrests: 'It should never happen again'

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: Four years of Allen Benedict Court inspection reports released

RELATED: DEEP DIVE: Work orders highlight potentially life-threatening problems at Allen Benedict Court

RELATED: Deep Dive: Work orders for deceased resident's apartment

RELATED: History of issues at Allen Benedict Court Apartments

RELATED: Allen Benedict Court records show possible lack in maintenance

RELATED: Incident report reveals possible source of CO in Allen Benedict Court deaths

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: Fire Department: At least 7 calls for 'suspicious odors' in 2018 at Allen Benedict Court

RELATED: Allen Benedict Court work orders show history of maintenance issues at deceased resident's apartment

RELATED: 'It takes a toll': Allen Benedict mother, daughter adapting to new normal

RELATED: 'I was in the belly of Hell': ex-Allen Benedict Court resident describes living there

RELATED: Previous work orders show gas leak issues at Allen Benedict Court

LAWSUITS: 

There have also been multiple lawsuits filed in connection to the case. You can see our coverage of those below.

RELATED: First lawsuit filed against Columbia Housing Authority director, commission chair

RELATED: Lawsuit alleges Allen Benedict Court Resident suffered from 'gas poisoning' well before evacuations

RELATED: Two new lawsuits filed over death, injury at Allen Benedict Court apartments

RELATED: 'Grossly negligent': 1st lawsuit filed over conditions at Allen Benedict Court Apartments

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