JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Asbestos has been discovered inside a Jacksonville high-rise days after it caught fire.
The new discovery is another setback for 200 vulnerable people who were displaced from Jacksonville Townhouse Apartments early Monday morning.
The building is HUD Section 8 housing for seniors.
Minutes before displaced residents were ushered into a meeting at a nearby American Red Cross shelter, Jacksonville Townhouse Apartments’ management company confirmed the disturbing find to Action News Jax.
“During the cleanup process, trace amounts of asbestos were discovered at the facility, requiring a different form of cleanup operations be engaged. We have contracted with a licensed asbestos cleanup provider to ensure compliance with all applicable regulations regarding asbestos abatement. The cleanup process will continue aggressively until we are completely satisfied our residents will be safe and comfortable upon return to their homes. In the interim, every resident will have hotel accommodations made available to them should they require it,” said Cambridge Management spokesperson Katelynn DeSart in an email.
The discovery of asbestos was left out of this afternoon’s meeting at the shelter.
“I was scared just from the fire and all that. But now with this, now I’m terrified,” said Mark Baker, who’s been staying at the shelter since Monday. “Some people may already be damaged and don’t even know.”
Some people will continue to stay at the shelter Thursday night and Cambridge Management will put others up in hotels.
Baker said moving to a hotel would allow him to be reunited with his service dog, Rocky, who’s been staying in a crate at the shelter.
“It’s hard. I saw him in the cage. He wasn’t happy in there. He’s not eating. When he saw me, he was all like jumping around and licking me,” Baker said.
DeSart said Cambridge Management is working on a plan to help its displaced residents retrieve some necessary items from their units, but there’s no timeline of when that will happen.
Jacksonville Townhouse Apartments is one of 10 Jacksonville properties managed by Cambridge Management; all are either HUD housing or receive Jacksonville Housing Authority vouchers.
Action News Jax looked through about 80 pages of recent inspections at the four Cambridge Management apartment complexes that receive Jacksonville Housing Authority vouchers.
Out of the 68 families that received vouchers for those properties this year, seven of their units failed inspection.
That’s about 10 percent.
Hampton Ridge had the most units that failed inspections: four.
Pinewood Pointe Apartments had two and Hillwood Pointe Apartments had one.
No units where JHA-voucher families lived at Timberwood Trace Apartments failed inspection this year.
Cox Media Group
