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Senator Rubio pushes HUD for urgent action on Eureka Garden

Jan 27, 2016 | NOTICIAS

“The Department of Housing and Urban Development needs to exercise more urgency in dealing with the prolonged health and safety issues at Eureka Garden, they need to do a better job of communicating with residents and providing timely answers to the questions and concerns they have, and they need to begin immediate testing for unsafe levels of lead at Eureka Garden,” Rubio, a Florida Republican running for president, said in a statement Thursday.

Members of his staff were in a Friday meeting with HUD officials and some residents when the issue of lead poisoning was discussed. 

Rubio said the “recent reports of children testing positive for lead poisoning at Eureka Garden are alarming and absolutely unacceptable.”

“Eureka Garden tenants have been victims of extremely poor management, government inefficiency, and uncertainty about the future of their housing situation for far too long,” he said. “For over three months, my Senate office has investigated numerous health and safety issues at the complex.”

Tracy Grant, president of the tenant association at the subsidized housing complex, said one mother approached her about her child testing positive for lead poisoning. The mother, according to Grant, went to apartment management, but felt they “pushed it to the side and never said anything about it.”

Rubio, other federal officials including top administrators at HUD, and local leaders including Mayor Lenny Curry are pressing Global Ministries to improve living conditions at Eureka Garden. Local and federal inspectors have found hundreds of violations with concerns focused on deteriorating stairs, mold and mildew, leaking pipes and gas leaks. 

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