COLUMBIA, S.C. — No one should have to raise their child in an apartment filled with mold and bacteria, but since June that’s exactly what several tenants at the Willow Run Apartments say they’ve have had to contend with.
Portia Mack has lived at Willow Run since September of 2023.
“Me and my children are suffering. We’re living in this mold infested apartment, with gnats and flies. And it’s just water everywhere,” she said.
Mack said this past June, her apartment was one of several that suffered water damage.
“You see how the floors are wet right now when you walk? That’s what we started to see,” Mack explained.
Four months later, Mack’s apartment still has standing water inside and mold three feet up the walls. It's all next to where her two-year-old daughter used to play with her toys.
Mack said her neighbor tried to report the water, but no one would believe her.
“They didn’t believe her until the property manager and maintenance came out and saw all the water,” Mack said.
While the complex offered to move Mack’s neighbor, they didn’t have another unit available for Mack and her children. Tired of waiting for a solution, Mack took matters into her own hands.
“I just had enough of it and I emailed the Chief of Code Enforcement last night. They came right out, in less than 24 hours,” Mack said.
After a visit from Columbia’s code enforcement team, Mack was told she had 24 hours to vacate her apartment.
“I was relieved, but then a sudden anxiety came over me, because I’m like, ‘Where are they going to put us,’” Mack recalled.
News19 reached out to City of Columbia Code Enforcement, who told us through a CPD spokesperson the apartment manager was making housing arrangements for the displaced tenants.
News19 also reached out to both the Willow Run Apartments and their property management company, Beacon Property Services out of Spartanburg, asking why it took several months and a visit from code enforcement to finally get Mack and her family out of their mold-ridden apartment.
Neither has responded to our request for comment.