On the recordMay 12, 2016
tomorrow I will be visiting the Eureka Garden Apartments in Jacksonville, FL, which is a Section 8 apartment complex that is supposed to provide affordable and safe living conditions for low-income members of the Jacksonville community, but it doesn't. Instead, its tenants have been subjected to dangerous, often downright disgusting living conditions for years. They raised their concerns repeatedly with the managers of the facility and local officials, only to be met for the most part with bureaucratic indifference. My staff and I have been working on this since it first came to light last fall, but there has been a frustrating, disturbing lack of progress from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and, more importantly, from the owner of the complex. Frankly, I have had enough. I am heading down there tomorrow to see what we have to do and whom we need to put pressure on to get things moving. I will be touring the facility and meeting with Tracy Grant, who is the president of the tenants association. I will be joined by Councilman Garrett Dennis, Jacksonville Mayor Len Curry, and Pastor Mark Griffin of Wayman Ministries, who will be meeting with residents. I intend to commend the residents tomorrow for how united and resilient they have been throughout this ordeal, even while the Federal Government failed them. For years the Department of Housing and Urban Development has certified this facility and as a result has put hundreds of families at risk.…
