INDIANAPOLIS — Feces, blood and urine can be seen smeared inside parts of the Lugar Tower in downtown Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Housing Agency (IHA) owns the facility primarily for seniors and people with disabilities.
Residents at Lugar Tower say they are fed up with unsanitary conditions. They filed a lawsuit as a cry for help.
“Behind the door on the sixth floor, there’s a big ole hole with feces on it. The heater, the cable box is coming apart. It has feces on it,” Sandra Barnes said.
Barnes is one of five residents at Lugar Tower suing the IHA and on-site property management, the Bradley Company.
“Enough is enough. It’s terrible. It’s not just this floor, it’s every other floor in the building,” Barnes said.
Barnes says this comes after repeated complaints about human feces and urine in the hallways and stairwells, lack of security at night, crime, roach and bed bug infestations, trash pile-ups and doors being unlocked, allowing building access to people who are not residents.
Pictures from outside Brenda Lumpkin’s door show an alleged stabbing scene from a non-resident inside the building.
Lumpkin is also listed in the lawsuit.
“We are tired of the dirty floors, dirty laundry rooms. There’s so much spit and stuff on elevators that you have to watch your arms when you get in. You don’t know what you are going to see when the doors open downstairs,” Barnes said.
One of the two elevators in the building was out of order on Thursday. Barnes says they break down every other day.
According to the lawsuit, feces were reported on the walls in December. They have yet to be cleaned.
“Clean the building up. Clean it up. That’s the point of this,” Barnes said.
The Marion County Public Health Department says it’s received nearly 30 complaints in the last six months regarding the building.
“It’s very frustrating to all residents in the building that have to deal with what we are living with in Lugar Tower every day. We’ve been trying to stop it for the longest [time]. Not just today or last year,” Barnes said.
IHA says last year, it was struggling to keep up with maintenance requests. The Bradley Company took over management in December.
Residents feel IHA abandoned them.
“Many living here are seniors with disabilities. They deserve to have a home that they aren’t afraid to be in, especially when our tax dollars are supposed to be used in a responsible way,” Fran Quigley, with IU McKinney School of Law, said.
Quigley says every Indiana tenant has a right to live in a safe setting in a clean environment.
“When you have a landlord like the Indianapolis Housing Agency or the Bradley Company, they have an obligation to make sure the premises are in clean and safe conditions,” Quigley said. “And as we know, the current conditions these folks are living in at Luger Tower are neither safe nor sanitary.”
WRTV reached out to the Bradley Company. They sent us this statement:
Bradley Company recently took over day-to-day operations at the Richard Lugar Tower on behalf of the Indianapolis Housing Agency. While there were many contributing factors to the current maintenance situation, we share the concerns of residents. Resolutions to the most critical issues are already underway, and a long-term capital improvement plan is being developed. Bradley Company remains focused on improving Richard Lugar Tower and serving our community.
WRTV also reached out to IHA. They referred us to the agency’s lawyer. We are waiting on his response.
