Thread by @ProPublica

1/ Alexis Winston’s window didn’t lock and needed a security screen. She complained to the East St. Louis, Ill., public housing authority.

No fix.

She was found dead in her apt, window shattered by an intruder. This happened one year ago yesterday.
propub.li/2vy23lv

2/ @HUDgov took over the East St. Louis housing authority in 1985 because of poor living conditions and fraud. HUD was supposed to protect the residents of public housing.

They were neglected instead.

New from @thesouthern’s @MollyParkerSI: propub.li/2vy23lv

3/ @SecretaryCarson came to East St. Louis last year to give the housing authority back to local control.

At a festive event, he declared that residents in East St. Louis were no longer at risk.

That was false.

4/ In the months before his visit, nine of the 12 public housing complexes in East St. Louis failed inspections.

All told, inspectors projected over 5,000 violations there.

And 1/4 of them were deemed life threatening. propub.li/2vwOYbZ

5/ Winston was killed in front of her toddler weeks before Carson visited with a message of success.

Her mom said a security screen could have been the difference between life and death.

propublica.org/article/east-s…

6/ HUD spokesman Jereon Brown said at the time of Carson’s visit, he wasn’t aware of Winston’s murder.

Asked if Carson stood by his remarks, the spokesman declined to comment.

7/ Lakena Harmon, who also lives in public housing in East St. Louis, remembered hearing about Winston’s murder.

She was pregnant and laid down in bed one night. Then shots were fired at her apartment, shooting out a window. Fortunately, she was unharmed.
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8/ Harmon slept on a mattress in her living room, waiting for her window to be fixed.

About two weeks later, she woke up to the smell of raw sewage seeping into her apartment from the floor above. No response.

Her apartment flooded again last week.

9/ Willie McDaniel, a tenant in a different building, said neighbors have complained about lack of security, infestation, mold & mildew, holes in the wall.

And those who are not tenants sleep in the hallways. So it’s not uncommon for feces to linger in common areas for days.

10/ Terrell Wren, another resident in that building, complained about bed bugs.

His bathroom is in shambles, with a jammed hot water knob that makes water run continuously.

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11/ Mildred Motley, the East St. Louis Housing Authority’s exec director, said in an email that the local housing authority “strives to meet HUD standards. Inspections have identified several items that need to be addressed, and we are in the process of addressing those items.”

12/ You may have heard about public housing woes in NYC, D.C., Chicago.

Not enough people are talking about this in small and mid-sized cities, like East St. Louis.

These cities struggle to replace what’s lost when the housing deteriorates.

propub.li/2vwOYbZ

13/ HUD is no longer as involved as it was in East St. Louis. The housing authority is back to local control.

But it doesn’t have enough resources to fix the staggering backlog of needed repairs.

14/ Despite @HUDgov’s oversight, residents were left in unsafe conditions.

We know these residents aren’t alone. Health and safety issues are plaguing small and mid-sized cities.

Please share your public housing story: propub.li/2KBM1Md

15/ We’ve been invested in fostering local investigations like @MollyParkerSI’s this year.

And we’re doubling our Local Reporting Network to do more of this.

Journalists: Apply with an idea here: propub.li/2MgCaA4