A look inside: Tenants furious about conditions at Independence Towers where child fell from window
INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (KCTV) - Chants of “Independence Towers, we are power” punctuated the drone of cicadas two blocks from the high rise. A child died late last month after falling from a window that would not lock. Residents had been organizing to address conditions there months prior.
Eliot West showed us what the inside of her apartment there looks like. She lives there with her mother and father. Pieces of drywall were peeling from water damage, there was mold, and the bathtub was covered in rust.
She and her father, Steve West, were among four tenants who spoke at a rally with the KC Tenants organization Tuesday night. He spoke directly to the previous and current management companies as well as the company leaders.
“Would you allow your family to live in conditions like these? If not, why are you forcing mine to?” he asked.
READ MORE: Frustrations grow as tenants demands go unmet two months after negotiations with landlord
He and his family moved in eight years ago after being priced out of their rental home.
Daisha White said the apartments were a good place to live when she moved in six years ago following a divorce, but they began to deteriorate when FTW Investments, led by Parker Webb, took over in 2020.
She showed KCTV5 photos of a hole in her ceiling, water damage and dresser drawers she no longer uses because of mouse droppings that she says appear every year. Then, there are the roaches and other bugs.
“I no longer sleep with my lights off in my house. I have to sleep with the lights on in my house, just so they will hide a little bit, and I’m not smacking them off me,” White said.
In June, there was a fire in the 123-unit high rise. A resident was charged with arson.
“No one heard the fire alarm go off,” resident Krystal Crawford said at Tuesday’s rally. “Do you know why? Because the fire alarm in Independence Tower was broken.”
READ MORE: Independence apartment arson is only one issue residents say they’ve had to deal with
Their list of demands includes working central air conditioning, a long-term improvement to the plumbing and HVAC system, and more than one maintenance person to address repairs in a more timely fashion.
They also want the current management company to collectively bargain new lease agreements with them and to guarantee they will not retaliate against tenants who have ed the union. That includes eviction or non-renewal of leases.
READ MORE: Renters of Independence apartments confront property management about poor conditions
TIMELINE OF PROBLEMS
Residents first began organizing with KC Tenants to form a tenant union in March when they had no hot water for two weeks.
The month before, Fannie Mae, which provides federally backed loans for affordable housing, accused FTW Investments of not keeping the property in the condition required by the of the loan. In May, a judge appointed Trigild, Inc. as receiver of the property.
On June 20, the tenants union said they met with Trigild Vice President Nancy Daniels. As a result, residents were provided portable air conditioning units as an interim fix to the lack of central air. Tenants say the single floor units are barely enough to keep a single room cool and have raised their electric bills significantly.
On July 29, a 3-year-old died after falling from an eighth-story window.
Days later, they said they were without hot water again for eight days.
KC Tenants said Daniels seemed receptive when they first met but that she has “failed to follow through on her commitments” and has been unresponsive to follow-up attempts. KCTV5 emailed Daniels Tuesday afternoon to get a response to the tenants accusations and demands but has not yet received a reply.
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