STATEN ISLAND -- Dark patches of soot-like spots line the ceiling of Micheline Gard's bathroom, a resident in the New York Housing Authority's South Beach Houses on the Island.
Gard says she has been scrubbing the mold off the walls, the ceiling, and the inside of her bathtub almost everyday since she noticed it growing this summer.
But it keeps coming back.
A sign taped to her bathroom door reminds guests and her three children she lives with, one of them asthmatic, to leave the door open when they shower.
She said it's advice the building's management recommended after she filed several complaints with NYCHA about the mold problem in recent months. Management also told her to leave the windows open when they shower.
After months of complaints, Gard says no one has come to help her, and she wants to be transferred to a different apartment immediately to get away from the mold.
In recent days Gard says she has become desperate and is getting very sick. Her chest is tight, she has an ongoing headache, and coughs every time she walks past the bathroom.
"This is not right. No one deserves to live like this," Gard said. "An apartment is not for free, you pay your rent."
Gard claims her doctor recently told her not return to her mold infested home because it is hazardous to her health. But she has nowhere else to go, she said.
Gard says she is not the only one at South Beach Houses plagued by mold.
She said she personally knows at least three other tenants with mold in their homes.
AN ONGOING PROBLEM
A report released by the New York State Senate earlier this year found that 59 percent of NYCHA residents surveyed across the five boroughs found mold in their apartment.
Another 56 percent of the residents surveyed said it took more than two weeks for NYCHA to respond, or the agency never responded at all.
"Due to the fact that mold can infest your home so quickly, immediate repairs are necessary to protect human health," the report read. "NYCHA takes weeks, sometimes months, to even respond to a complaint of mold if they respond at all. By that point, residents are already suffering from severe symptoms."
This is not the first time Gard has had to fight to get results.
In 2012, Gard's fifth floor apartment, which she has lived in since 1991, was infested with mold, her kitchen would flood when it rained, and parts of her home were crumbling.
She said it took NYCHA about a month help her back then. She said she asked to be transferred five years ago, but the agency never moved her.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mold can lead to a number of health effects like eye, throat, and skin irritations and cause severe allergies.
For those considered "immune-compromised" or suffer from chronic lung illnesses and asthma, mold exposure has the potential to cause serious infections in people's lungs.
The CDC recommends that those with highly sensitive immune systems stay away from mold altogether.
But the CDC and others also say mold may not cause any health effects at all, for some.
"In terms of just the degree in symptoms, you're talking about very minor symptoms such as sinusitis, runny nose, itchy eyes, teary eyes, the same things you would see with people who get exposed to pollen when springtime comes along," said Nima Majlesi, the director of medical toxicology at the Staten Island University Hospital. "Or people who get exposed to dander from leaves in the fall ... essentially it's the same symptoms that mold causes."
NYCHA UNDER FIRE
The South Beach Houses' plight with mold comes as the city's housing authority has been embroiled in controversy in recent months.
Over the summer, the city was hit with an 80-page federal complaint, which outlined how NYCHA had covered up and lied about how it dealt with mold, lead paint and other concerns.
The federal complaint said that from 2013 to 2016, NYCHA residents made between 18,000 to 28,000 complaints about mold growth every year.
The complaint said although NYCHA"eventually cleans the mold from the walls," it constantly grows back "because NYCHA does not successfully address its root causes."
In light of the complaint, Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed to cough up $1.2 billion to pay for repairs outlined in the complaint and appoint a federal monitor to oversee improvements.
NYCHA told the Advance its staff is scheduled to respond to Gard's service request to help get rid of the mold in her bathroom on Sept. 24.
By the end of the day Monday, NYCHA said it completed repairs in Gard's apartment.
"We appreciate our residents' patience as our staff makes all necessary repairs and ensures any follow-up needs are addressed," NYCHA spokesperson Chester Soria said.
But Gard claims NYCHA only agreed to finally address the problem after she threatened the agency she would go to the news media about her ongoing issues with mold if they did not respond.
It is unclear if the housing authority plans to transfer Gard to a different apartment.
In the meantime, Gard said she is afraid to go back home. She said she took a blood test this week to see if there is mold in her blood.
"Because of the stress I just keep leaving the house," Gard said. " ... The mold comes back, I just keep leaving."
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