BEDBUGS, YELLOW WATER:
Tenants target another Global Ministries property.
Memphis code enforcement officials will be inspecting another apartment complex owned by Global Ministries Foundation today following tenant complaints.
Serenity Towers, a senior apartment complex near t he University of Memphis, will be inspected between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., according to a letter to tenants from code enforcement.
Officers are expected to inspect each of 396 units in the building.
Residents called code enforcement to report a bedbug infestation, flooding when it rains and yellow tap water.
Several residents spoke to The Commercial Appeal about the conditions at Serenity Towers, but none would allow their names to be used, fearing they’d be evicted for speaking to the media.
They repor ted having bedbug bites on their arms, legs and abdomens; one provided photos.
LEDIC Management president Pierce Ledbetter said the company was hired last year to improve conditions at the property where many tenants receive federal subsidies. The property received its last federal inspection score in 2014 — a 98 out of 100.
“Since our arrival at Serenity Towers, we have worked diligently with staff and maintenance to always provide improvements and make ourselves available to listen and address the concerns of our residents,” Ledbetter said in a prepared statement.
Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development an- nounced that 1 ,05 1 tenants would be relocated from two other properties owned by Memphisbased GMF — Warren and Tulane apartments — because of the owner’s repeated failure to make repairs.
HUD will be hosting a meeting on Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the community room at Warren to inform residents about the tenant protection vouchers they will receive and how the relocation process will work.
A second meeting will be hosted on Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. in the community room at the Tulane apartment complex.
Earlier this month, Standard & Poor’s lowered its rating and placed the GMF-Warren/Tulane bond under a negative watch outlook. The original $1 1 . 8 million bond, issued by the Health, Educational and Housing Facility board, was used to buy the properties in 2011.
Marc Joffe, a bond market analyst at Public Sector Credit Solutions, said without rent subsidies from HUD, there is a risk of default. Bond inves-
tors may not receive the principal or the interest promised when the bond was purchased.
On Wednesday, Charles Carpenter, attorney for the Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board of Memphis, which issued bonds to buy Warren and Tulane, told board members during a monthly meeting that the quasigovernment agency had no financial responsibility over bonds.
Carpenter read the state law to the board for the record: “4810131 3 Non-liability of municipality. Neither the board or the city shall in any event be liable for the payment of, principal of or interest of any bonds of the board.”
Carpenter added, “the board did issue bonds for Warren/Tulane as a conduit issuer and of course we have no responsibility for those bonds so we are just monitoring the situation to see exactly what t he development wi l l be and the board can be knowledgeable of what’s going on.”
Ca r penter ex pla i ned t h at people who buy these types of bonds understand that the board is only there to facilitate the transaction.
GMF has been under scrutiny since April 2015 following a n investigation by The Commercial Appeal that found poor living conditions, including bedbugs, mold, leaking plumbing and other problems that made some apartments unlivable.