Section 8 landlord hit with city fines after family flees filthy home

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Tanishia Goudy and her children had to leave behind everything they had because of filthy conditions - and start all over.

On top of her family's trash pile, lies a bulletin board with reminders about morning prayer and homework. Tanishia and her two children went to a homeless shelter on Wednesday because of water problems and the spread of mildew or mold in their house.

They also left because the spread of mildew or mold inside her rental home. On Thursday inspectors from the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan paid a visit to the house.

"They said it was godawful," said Tanishia. "Because they smelled the mold and had to come out quickly."

Tanishia says she had been trying for days to get help, contacting the property manager - Portfolio Property Management in Clinton Township as well as the office that handles Section 8 housing, Property Consultants in Dearborn. 

But nobody would help her, so she called FOX 2.

"I probably would still be in this house suffering, breathing in this bad mold, thank you," she said.
 
FOX 2 alerted Detroit's Building, Safety, Engineering and Environmental Department. They went out immediately and found the property was in violation on several levels with no smoke detectors, bad handrails and sewage in the basement.

"The property has not been registered, it doesn't have a certificate of compliance - it doesn't have a lead certificate," said Dave Bell, city of Detroit.

It is unclear how the property was allowed by Section 8 to be rented out without a certificate of compliance. But now the property owner, Scott Humphrey, who lives in Oregon, has been ticketed by the city.

"We issued about a $1,000 in blight violations for this location," Bell said. "It's possible a misdemeanor ticket could be issued next week.

For landlords in this situation - we're going to make them pay."

Dave Bell says it's imperative that renters ask their landlords and check the BSEED website to make sure the property has a certificate of compliance from the city.

"They need to say where is my certificate of compliance, with that you know that you're getting a better house," he said.

As for Tanishia and her children who lived in a homeless shelter for nearly a year before renting this house of horrors - she's hoping to be out of the current shelter soon - and in a much safer home. Section 8 is helping her relocate.

"We have to start fresh and anew now and I pray that this house that we get now will be better house for us and that we don't have to go through this anymore," she said.

We will include a GoFundMe page for donations so that she can replace everything that was lost once it is created. Until then, contact us at fox2newsdesk@foxtv.com if you would like to help.