Could you live like this? New look inside Paso apartments is even worse than the first
Tenants suing their landlord over poor conditions at a Paso Robles apartment complex have been living with rampant bedbugs, walls covered with mold and holes in their ceilings.
If a tour of additional units on Thursday is any evidence, those conditions have not improved.
Francisco Ramirez, a three-year tenant of the Grand View Apartments and president of the local Hispanic Business Association, on Thursday showed The Tribune and other local media outlets around the complex.
“I think somebody’s got to speak out for the rest of my neighbors,” Ramirez said when asked why he felt comfortable talking publicly about his living conditions.
The apartments reporters were given permission to view had an array of problems, including cockroach and bedbug infestations, constantly running faucets, ceiling holes, walls coated in black mold and unsafe stoves.
In one unit, the bedbug infestation was so bad, splotches of rusty red blood were visible on the wall where residents had smashed the insects.
A bedroom in another unit was almost completely covered with black mold, creating a musty smell and making the air difficult to breathe.
One resident — tired of seeing cockroaches and bedbugs, even after constant cleaning — keeps her clothes in suitcases and a storage unit.
Tenants at the 54-unit complex that houses at least 200 residents on Spring Street filed a lawsuit against their landlords on May 7 in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court.
The lawsuit names only a few tenants, but it covers all Grand View residents. The renters are being represented by the San Luis Obispo Legal Assistance Foundation and the Hutkin Law Firm.
On May 24, Judge Ginger Garrett issued an order that forbids the landlords from collecting rent until the court allows it, due to the conditions of the apartments.
Here’s a look at some of the problems at the Grand View complex.
Mold on the walls
Bedbugs and cockroaches
Broken windows, leaky faucets, ripped floors and unsafe stoves
Ceiling holes
This story was originally published June 6, 2019 at 8:09 PM.
