‘Human rights issue’: OHA tenant says mold-filled house the cause of health issues, repeated ER visits

By Kalé Searcy

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — After a monthslong investigation into the living conditions at the Omaha Housing Authority, KETV Investigates was flooded with messages, calls and emails from residents revealing bugs, rats and broken appliances, but one of the biggest issues they said is mold.

With hundreds of units and multiple properties across the metro, several tenants have come forward, expressing years of poor air quality.

When Tamara Kurtenbach first stepped into her home in 2017, her joy and excitement were overpowered by a foul order.

“It smelled musty, moldy,” Kurtenbach said.

Kurtenbach moved back to the metro with her kids, hoping to bounce back with the support for public housing, but instead, she said she’s spent nearly eight years feeling trapped.

“When low-income families find out that they have black mold in their house, a lot of times they have to deal with it,” she said.

Her house is known as a “scatter site” — one of hundreds owned and operated by the Omaha Housing Authority. Kurtenbach said it took two years of work orders, phone calls and emails to finally start getting the help her family needed.

“They removed black mold from my attic,” Kurtenbach said.

But she said the problems only continued, within months an inspection by OHA showed an emergency health violation. A tube running to her dryer was clogged, trapping in heat. A year later, her house failed again, an inspection noting the dryer vent tube was still clogged, causing “moisture in unit.”

Kurtenbach said she watched as spores spread throughout her house, from the floors to the baseboards.

“I have an email that literally says in bold letters, ‘Help I have black mold in my home and my children keep getting sick,'” she said.

KETV Investigates took photos of the mold to the Douglas County health director.

“There’s not really any way to hold a landlord accountable, I guess you could say, to making sure that that mold gets cleaned up effectively,” said Dr. Lindsay Huse.

Huse said there are no federal or state laws regulating mold.

“So, if someone suspects that they have a mold issue, we are able to do a visual inspection,” she said.

But Huse said her team will send a letter to the property manager about what was found and provide education and resources.

But the responsibility falls on the landlord and sometimes even the tenant because the health department doesn’t have the capacity.

“Whatever is causing the moisture to be present, really that needs to be taken care of before any mold can be taken care of as well,” she said.

Huse said to file a complaint with the city of Omaha Code Enforcement, but even they are limited in what they can do.

Superintendent Anna Bespoyasny said it’s written as “unsanitary conditions,” not mold because the department doesn’t have the staff to identify or test it.

But if there’s a leak, their team can step in.

“Basically, handle the accountability in terms of the repairs,” Huse said.

While KETV Investigates was on scene at Kurtenbach’s house, an OHA maintenance worker showed up. Kurtenbach said he informed her a leak might be causing the growth.

“It’s visible to everyone in the neighborhood and everyone who walks past the house. They can never say they were unaware of it,” Kurtenbach said.

KETV Investigates was able to obtain reports from 2022, detailing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, known as HUD, inspected the North Omaha home along with 23 other properties.

Physical damages like chipping paint or missing doors were noted, but no discussion of mold.

“I closed off the room and forbid the kids to go in there,” Kurtenbach said.

Black mold exposure, known to cause rashes and hives like documented in photo Kurtenbach took of her own children.

After repeated trips to the ER for breathing issues and bloody noses, her own doctor wrote a recommendation letter to OHA with his professional opinion. Asking OHA to “please allow for family to find other suitable alternative housing.”

“He believes that our health concerns are from the black mold in the house,” Kurtenbach said.

She said that the request was denied.

“This is a real human rights issue that we’re dealing with. This is a real human rights issue because every human has a right to safe quality air in their home,” she said.

The Omaha Housing Authority said the house was inspected in May of this year and “showed no evidence of mold,” but maintenance staff treated the areas with a mold inhibitor.

Kurtenbach was finally transferred just recently to a new home, only after a tree fell on her roof, OHA said it paid for movers.

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