Neal Santos

WATERED DOWN: Wister Townhouse resident Jannie Watson, a crossing guard, points to mold on her building's walls.

[ dignity ]

The residents of Wister Townhouse Apartments and neighboring homeowners were circulating a petition to secure a city permit for a Fourth of July block party. It seemed innocent enough. But management was not pleased.

"These same efforts should be used at maintaining your apartments and beautifying the community instead of looking for ways to accommodate your own personal satisfaction," said a June 23 letter distributed to the tenants of the 200-unit row house complex in Germantown, who pay part of their rent with federally subsidized Section 8 vouchers. "Please be advised that any resident found barbequing [sic], grilling or using a pool on Wister Townhouse house property will be immediately processed for eviction. All residents names listed on the petition will be evicted also for failure to comply with the lease and all of the house rules. Choose wisely. It's easier to barbeque at the park than to live there."

The Michaels Organization, which owns the property through a related company called Interstate Realty Management and built the complex in 1978, says the letter was a mistake.

"This letter does not reflect the management style or philosophy of Interstate Realty Management and was indeed problematic," Michaels Organization vice president Laura Zaner conceded in a written statement. "The on-site manager who wrote the letter is no longer employed by our organization as of Aug. 1."

Zaner cited a "misunderstanding" that arose when tenants "wanted to charge a fee" for a block party.

That, says an incredulous Jannie Watson, is "a lie. That's not true. Nobody charges for a block party."

Watson and two other tenants interviewed for this story say they live in fear of eviction and dread the humiliation that accompanies "inspections," when management takes photos inside units, and if they are deemed messy, shows them at community meetings. And management disrespect goes beyond rudeness, they say: Persistent leaks are causing mold to grow on floors and cabinets.

"I have a big hole over my kitchen and it leaks," says Shawn Mitchell, 32, a handyman and father of six. "When it rains real hard, all the water comes straight through the back door and soaks the entire rug. The stuff that's under it is molded."

Watson, a 55-year-old school crossing guard, says she first complained in 2003. Water came in when it rained, as it did again after the recent downpours.

Last Monday, the carpet was wet.

"I went to them Thursday and Friday in tears because I knew it was going to rain," says Watson. "They vacuum up the water and go on about their business."

Zaner contends that Watson made her first complaint on Sept. 1 of this year, and that the historic flooding caused the leaks.

Yet Watson says it has been going on for years: In 2003, the sink started leaking. The cabinet below is now rotted out. In 2005, water started coming through a kitchen cabinet. They fixed it, but it started again in 2010.

It smells like mildew.

"I guess I don't deserve to have a cabinet," she sighs. "I can't cook in my kitchen."

In 2009, Watson's toilet started leaking. The tile curls up from the floor where mold grows. She says the toilet leaks down to the storage closet below.

"There were feces on the wall," she says.

Since 2010, the corruption and sexual-harassment scandals plaguing ousted Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) chairman Carl Greene have dominated headlines. Less attention has been paid to the more than 80,000 Philadelphians who live in PHA units, or the much larger number who pay their rent with Section 8 vouchers. Since wealthy suburban municipalities use zoning restrictions to keep out the poor, most public housing is concentrated in cities. Philadelphia has 68 percent of Southeastern Pennsylvania's public housing, with 15,700 PHA units and 90,000 units that receive state or federal subsidies.

Wister residents use federal vouchers, so the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) oversees the complex, which is privately managed by the Michaels Organization, a Marlton, N.J.-based public housing developer and manager with national reach. Big-business conservatives often oppose government programs, but in an age where outsourcing rules, public spending can mean big business.

And Michaels seems eager to make political friends, particularly in the South Jersey Democratic Party. In a 2009 investigation of the failed state takeover of Camden, the Inquirer found that the Michaels Organization CEO Michael Levitt and his wife Patricia donated more than $220,000 to Camden County and other New Jersey Democrats between 2000 and 2008. Michaels was awarded contracts for two new Camden affordable-housing projects, even though the recovery law called for market-rate housing.

Records show the Levitts gave generously to Republicans and Democrats statewide. In Elizabeth, Michaels owned a troubled and high-crime Section 8 complex called Oakwood Plaza, which in 2009 required a $4 million state bailout when it was sold to another company.