Alaska military family latest to file legal action against privatized base housing operators

On April 15, the former neighbor of Army wife Rebecca Winn called to let her know that a garbage collection truck had stopped at Winn’s former residence, loading toys with her children in the back of the truck, in the rain.

The day before, the family had authorized their final inspection at their residence in privatized accommodation at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, relocating because of what they claim in a lawsuit was mold in their laundry room in the basement. And that same day, April 14, the owner informed them that they had 15 days – until April 29 – to remove their remaining belongings that they had left in the basement while awaiting an insurance claim.

“All the toys my children received from Christmas were in this basement. They just threw him in the truck, ”said Winn, who immediately drove to the house. “My grandmother’s quilts, my daughter’s brand new bed that we had just bought a year ago, have been destroyed. They have six children, ranging from 1 to 8 years old.

The privatized housing company told the Winns it was a “clerical error” that sent the truck, according to Winn. Claims for damage to these items – and other costs associated with finding mold in their privatized housing complex – are at the root of the allegations in a lawsuit the Winns have brought against their landlord, Aurora Military Housing.

They filed a lawsuit on July 1 in Alaska State / Superior District Court in Palmer, naming AMH Military Housing II, LLC as the defendant. The district / superior court is the state court system.

In a statement sent to the Military Times, officials at Aurora Military Housing said the family had made “false and unsubstantiated claims.” The company said it had agreed to allow the family to move to another unit to “alleviate any residual concerns they may have had with the original unit, no matter how bizarre they might be.” JL Properties, in conjunction with Hunt Construction Co., owns and operates JBER’s 3,262 privatized housing units and sent the response.

The Winns join a chain of other military families across the country who sued their privatized housing companies for mold-related problems.

Rebecca Winn and her husband, Army WO1 Shane Winn, seek damages related to what they claim to be the discovery of mold in their laundry room – for the cost of mold testing, loss of personal effects due to the mold and damage to items thrown in the truck; reimbursement of their basic housing allowance during the months they lived with mold, and reimbursement of their expenses to move their household goods to another house.

Winn said the estimate is “thousands of dollars”. Their case is assigned to the state’s district court, which hears civil cases involving claims not exceeding $ 100,000 per defendant.

The owner of the privatized home denies the allegations and maintains that the family began to make “false and unfounded allegations about their home, including the existence of significant mold,” after the company denied the Winn’s claim to move to a larger, newer house. The move would have been “against company policy,” according to a statement provided to the Military Times by JL Properties, Inc.

Rebecca Winn has vehemently denied both asking to move before the mold problems started and making false and unsubstantiated claims. She shared numerous videos and audio, mold test results, detailed conversation timelines and other information.

“Our family has made four military moves in five years, and we would never opt for a move unless we had to,” she said. And she asked why her family would want to move in the winter if they didn’t have to, especially with six children. She told representatives from the Air Force housing office and bio-environmental office that they just wanted safe housing, she said, and didn’t care what rank category was in. the new accommodation.

And, Winn replied, after leaving the mold, they moved into a smaller house, but they still have four bedrooms. This is also enlisted housing, so the company still receives its officer’s basic housing allowance.

The family moved into Aurora Military Housing in May 2019. According to the lawsuit, Shane Winn first discovered mold on February 10 in the basement laundry room and contacted Aurora Military Housing the same day. The next day, AMH dispatched two quality assurance / quality control officers, who reported finding “dry and dead mold”. They cleaned a section of a foot with Tilex and sprayed the area with Concrobium, a disinfectant cleaner, according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, the Winns had lingering concerns and more mold was discovered on March 4. They paid for two mold tests in a private lab at two different times, which found different types of black mold, with mold actively growing in these two areas of the laundry room. An Aurora employee told the Winns that the washing machine overflowed at some point before they moved in, according to the lawsuit.

According to the statement from JL Properties, “The family continued to make unfounded claims, repeatedly asking for work and then refusing to allow our maintenance crews or contractors to enter the property and perform any work. works.

“Over a period of several months, the Air Force also conducted several independent investigations, including two inspections by the Inspector General; all of this came to the same conclusions, namely that the allegations of dangerous toxic mold in the house were completely and totally unfounded, ”according to the statement from JL Properties.

JL Properties did not immediately respond to questions about these investigations or inspections, while officials at the Elmendorf-Richardson joint base did not immediately respond to questions about them. Winn said the government housing office “has been good to us” during the process.

According to the trial, the Winns claim the company did not follow corrective maintenance procedures when handling mold in their home, so they were reluctant to have the company do further work on their home. They fought to move to another unit because they feared the corrective action was not being done properly, Winn said.

Going against company policy and “at the express request” of the Air Force, Aurora officials said they allowed the family to move into a newer, more modern home, the statement said. of the company. They took this step “as a sign of good faith to the family to alleviate any residual concerns they may have had with the original unit, strange as they may have been.” The family continued to make false and unfounded claims, including filing an insurance claim for property damage caused by mold, which was denied. ….

“All of these events resulted in the family filing a baseless lawsuit against Aurora.”

The Military Housing Advocacy Network worked with the Winn family “to take every step a family could think of to help them seek resolution,” said Sarah Kline, an attorney for the nonprofit MHAN. “We have provided assistance by involving the government housing office, installation order, service member order, lawmakers, JAG, IG, private mold testing, and it is unfortunate that none of these ways has resolved.

“When this happens, we fully support our families who seek a lawyer and file complaints because it is their only recourse. We hope the Winn family will prevail in court. “

“It shouldn’t be that hard to get decent, safe accommodation here,” Winn said.