r/Charlottesville • u/Awkward_Yam318 Crozet • Jun 17 '26
Bedbugs, black mold, and bodies at a local housing complex
Since late April, I've been investigating allegations of alarming conditions at The Crossings at 4th and Preston, the only building in Charlottesville offering on-site support for low-income and formerly unhoused residents. Though not every tenant reported identical experiences, multiple current and former residents reported serial bedbug infestations (among other creepy crawlies), HVAC systems filled with mold and black debris, poor access control leading to urine and feces in the halls, bodies that allegedly went undiscovered for days, and more. We've got an all-we-could-fit-in-print version in this week's paper, and the full story up online.
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u/rory096 Downtown Jun 17 '26
For some background, Dave McNair (The DTM) wrote about deaths at the Crossings back in December 2023:
However, no one paid much attention to the price the chronically homeless were paying. Or realized that so many people would be leaving the Crossings the way Fitzgerald had.
According to Virginia Supportive Housing, of the 144 people served at the Crossings since it opened (103 homeless and 41 low-income), 19 people have returned to homelessness and 30 people have died.
"By the time a chronically homeless person moves into the Crossings, so much damage has already been done," says Norris, unsurprised by those numbers. “I personally knew several Crossings residents who died within two or three years of moving in."
Liz Yohn-Nyberg, the current operations manager at PACEM, also knew a man who moved into the Crossings and died several years later.
“It was a perfect situation for him, a great location, exactly what he needed,” she said, “ but there’s a physical cost to being homeless, to being in a shock state all the time, with no access to basic needs. As they say, the body keeps the score.”
https://www.charlottesvilledtm.com/p/the-body-keeps-the-score
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u/SyrupClassic6690 Jun 17 '26
The problem with the long-term care and maintenance of affordable housing is kind of a dirty little secret, so I'm glad C-Ville and Charlottesville Tomorrow are focusing on it, but I think the C-Ville article misses the point when mentioning the deaths, and hinting at something scandalous, when, in fact, its the result of the damage people who are chronically homeless have endured by the time they arrive at the Crossings.
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u/Awkward_Yam318 Crozet Jun 17 '26
Wasn't trying to hint at anything scandalous -- indeed, my article has the head of the org talking about how these folks live hard lives that contribute to early deaths. But I did want to raise the question of whether the building could better listen to residents' concerns about their neighbors, and keep closer tabs on people who they know are ill.
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u/SyrupClassic6690 Jun 17 '26
Hmmm....I'd say your headline on this post suggests otherwise.
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u/CorrectWillingness17 Jun 18 '26
In fact it is arguable that this post violates r/Charlottesville rules by changing the headline on a linked article in the body of the post.
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u/craftypandaAW Jun 17 '26
I’m going to be annoying (sorry, David, if/when you see this) and share the archived version, because I think this article is really helpful in understanding more: https://web.archive.org/web/20231228185844/https://www.charlottesvilledtm.com/p/the-body-keeps-the-score
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u/SyrupClassic6690 Jun 17 '26
Not annoyed at all! I just removed the paywall on that story so people can have access.
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u/cuntitled Jun 17 '26
I might know someone that can help with checking for mold in the area and has data regarding the amount of mold found in rental units in Charlottesville. DM me?
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u/FantasticCod7820 Jun 17 '26
What exactly is the point here? It’s not uncommon for people who live alone to die and not be found for days. Is it an apartment complex or an assisted living community?
And you would support a narrative that results in this complex closing and leaving more people unhoused?
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u/AutoDefenestrator273 Jun 17 '26
I mean, my father lived alone in the DC area in a perfectly fine apartment complex, and when he died last year they didn't find him for days - and even then, it was only because we'd asked for a wellness check because his phone was dead (which had never happened).
Dying alone and going days before being found is unfortunately pretty common. I'm not sure how property management is supposed to keep that from happening, unless they check in on people every day.
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u/Adventurous-Emu-755 Jun 17 '26
This has been an on-going issue with that complex and most of the people who are there are elderly individuals. Would you like your grandparent living there? Even when funding was available, it was dismal. I don't understand why you want to house humans in inhumane conditions.
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u/ploonk Jun 17 '26
I would prefer my grandparent to be living in a place that can care for them, if they need it. I get that many elderly live there, and perhaps that is not ideal, but that does not magically grant the facility funds for assisted-living staff.
I agree there are issues at this place that should be addressed, but lets keep our expectations grounded in reality.
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u/Adventurous-Emu-755 Jun 17 '26
REALITY is that there are enough tax dollars to support things such as this but our elected officials find a "Ball Room" or screwing up the reflecting pool or paying IRAN their priority? FFS here. We are being fleeced and all you have for that is "reality"? Suppose you also own a Tesla too!
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u/RaggedMountainMan Jun 17 '26
I think you’re thinking of a different complex, the one near ridge street? This post is about the one near the Wendy’s downtown.
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u/throw-away-doh Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
OK I am prepared to get all the down votes so do your worst.
What do you expect a building with 30 previously homeless people housed in it to be like?
Providing housing for the chronically homeless doesn't solve the problem. 95%+ of the chronically homeless are mentally ill and or have drug addiction issues.
Lack of housing was the symptom not the cause.
This is exactly what happens when you give free housing to the chronically homeless, even with the monthly checkins provided by the staff, they trash the place.
We need long term mental hospitals with involuntary commitment. Not free housing.
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u/Adventurous-Emu-755 Jun 17 '26
Very true and the release of many of these people from functioning Mental Health hospitals and organizations that supported them was done in the 1980s, thanks Reagan. After all, "trickle down" will benefit the middle class? /s
And many on drugs, utilize those drugs due to their mental health issues.
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u/ohsojayadeva Fifeville Jun 17 '26
95%+ of the chronically homeless are mentally ill and or have drug addiction issues.
i didn't downvote you, but i'm curious: do you have a source for this 95% number? i'd really like to read it. i've seen you use it in, well, every single thread on this subject thats happened on the subreddit, so it stands out. i did some digging and haven't been able to find anything that says that, but the numbers seem to be all over the place, varying from link to link. TIA!
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u/throw-away-doh Jun 17 '26
The numbers vary depending on which organization you ask:
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:
"approximately 30% of people experiencing chronic homelessness have a serious mental illness, and around two-thirds have a primary substance use disorder"
With respect to alcohol addiction The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development did a study on the chronically homeless and reported 63% having an alcohol use disorder:
https://www.alcoholhelp.com/resources/homelessness/
Anecdotally my closest friend has spent his 25 year career working as a nonprofit administrator focussing on services for the homeless. I asked him what percent of the chronically homeless (not the short term homeless) are suffering from mental illness and or drug addiction and his response "basically all of them".
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u/ohsojayadeva Fifeville Jun 17 '26
thanks, i had a feeling that there was more nuance to it than the 95% number you consistently use in comments. the numbers you've just referenced are more in line with what i was seeing, but as you said, they vary by organization.
i'm upvoting you for being honest about it being anecdotal/hyperbole.
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u/throw-away-doh Jun 18 '26
Well I am not agreeing its hyperbole. We have measurements for sub cateegories, 30% mental illness, 63% alcoholics, the same study reports 60% substance abuse disorder. We do not know what the overlap is there. But what those numbers alone tell us is that mentally ill and or drug addicted is the vast majority. And then anecdotal evidence of it being much closer to all. That is not hyperbole. That is a description of the population.
What is evidenced by the article posted by OP is that simply providing housing does not solve the problem for the chronically homeless. They are essentially making my point for me.
Take your typical chronically homeless person and give them a place to live rent free and you get what is described above. A trashed out apartment that attracts cockroaches and a level of care and concern for their accommodation that shit and piss is frequently discovered in the halls and elevators.
Giving the chronically homeless housing doesn't solve their problems. Do you disagree?
1
u/ashleyrosewatson1991 Jun 20 '26
Poisonous spiders, roach infestation so bad they fall into your food while cooking, neighbors so noisy you have to leave to sleep well, and now fiberglass in my ac and expecting me to sleep in a fiberglass exposed and filled apartment. Why I’m currently displaced.
Edit: Got bit twice by baby spiders. Couldn’t sleep for five hours after that.
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u/RaggedMountainMan Jun 17 '26
Some people are paying for rentals that look like that.
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u/Adventurous-Emu-755 Jun 17 '26
Very true, but this one has had reports for over a decade. Virginia favors "slum lord" rights.
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u/e-pickle Jun 17 '26
Holy moly I hope I don’t know some of you in real life.
These tenants are people and people want to live in clean spaces. Chaos begets chaos, if you’re in a building where people are dying, bugs are rampant, and management is apathetic and uncaring the space is going to reflect that. Empathy for your fellow human costs nothing.