Fox 8 Defenders: Residents describe deplorable conditions at Parc Fontaine apartments

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Residents at an Algiers apartment complex are begging for help, saying they’re living in squalor.

One of the owners of the Parc Fontaine Apartments is Global Ministries Foundation, the same religious nonprofit that owns The Willows in New Orleans East, which Fox 8 earlier revealed was full of mold, trash and residents who said they felt unsafe.

Fox 8 Defenders coverage

FOX 8 Defenders: Residents complain of unsafe living conditions at The Willows

FOX 8 Defenders: Almost a dozen code enforcement violations at The Willows

FOX 8 Defenders: After 3 murders in less than 24 hours, The Willows ramps up security

FOX 8 Defenders: CEO vows to clean up The Willows apartments

Parc Fontaine resident Creston Delay, 73, says he has lived in an apartment with water running through it for months.

“If you turn the water on, they gonna run out. The pipe you know, in the sink,” Delay said.

The carpet is soaked from the leaking water. Delay said he sleeps in a corner of his bedroom, on the only dry spot on the floor. He said it’s been like this for three months, despite his frequent complaints to management about his living conditions.

“Every day,” he said. “Crying like I am now. ... I can’t find no other place. It’s hard to find a one-bedroom apartment, because they raised the rent up. This is a shame for me to be living like this.”

Another Parc Fontaine resident -- Nathan Wilson -- said he also has struggled to get problems in his apartment fixed.

“There’s a lot of mold,” Wilson said. “A lot of the sheet rock is caving in off the walls, because of the mold and water that’s leaking.”

Wilson described a constant battle between renters seeking repairs and an indifferent building management.

“Every time you come to the office, they say they’re gonna send someone, and no one ever comes,” Wilson said. “We got a leak under the sink that’s been there two months and no one still never came.

“I told them recently, ‘If I can’t get someone to come out to fix the problem, that’s getting deducted from the rent.’ I don’t care how much I have to pay. If I pay $2,000 or $3,000 (for the repair), it’s going to be deducted from my rent.”

Since the Fox 8 Defenders stories earlier this year on The Willows and Global Ministries, we have received dozens of calls and emails from people living at Parc Fontaine who said they also live in deplorable conditions and can’t seem to get management to help.

Delay told us he was stuck, until he told the management office he had just been interviewed by Fox 8. Within days, he said he was moved to a clean unit, one without mold or leaking water. But he said many others who lack the means to move out wonder when they will receive help.

A spokesperson for Global Ministries denied residents’ claim that the Parc Fontaine management office recently was closed because of mold, saying the closure was because of water damage after a recent storm that blew a temporary tarp off its roof.

If you have a consumer complaint you’d like us to look into, call the Fox 8 Defenders, staffed with volunteers from the National Council of Jewish Women at 1-877-670-6397. Or click here to fill out our online complaint form, which is the easiest way to reach us.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Copyright 2022 WVUE. All rights reserved.