Gary senior housing building floods after water-line break
By Michelle L. Quinn Post-Tribune correspondent January 21, 2012 4:16PM
Joann Emery hands her coffeemaker to a friend over a pile of soggy insulation from the collapsed ceiling in her apartment at the Serenity Lakes senior apartment building in the Miller section of Gary, Ind. Saturday January 21, 2012. Emery's was among the most severly damaged when an early morning flood damaged a number of apartments and hallways at the new complex. | Stephanie Dowell~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: February 23, 2012 8:22AM
GARY — An early morning water line break in a $12 million, 9-month old senior independent living complex in the city’s Miller section has residents frustrated and nervous about their safety.
No one was injured in the incident, but it did damage at least five units and leave at least one person displaced after 3 inches of water flooded her third-floor apartment. Soggy insulation from a caved-in ceiling coated all but Joann Emery’s bed Saturday as she waited for someone to place her in another apartment in the Serenity Lake Senior Independent Living complex at 5601 Melton Road.
Emery said she was asleep when a building alarm went off about 1:15 a.m. Saturday. When she looked up, she saw water starting to drip at an increasing rate around the sprinkler heads in the ceiling. Soon after, she saw it coming through the walls.
“There was at least three inches of water before (Gary Firefighters) found the issue,” Emery said. “It flooded the whole apartment.”
Another resident, Eunice Bethel, said no one from the complex’s management company, RMC Management of Gary, is at the residence after 5 p.m. on weekdays, nor is there anyone there over the weekend. She said Saturday’s water line break is the second since she moved in in October.
“We’ve had meetings to voice our opinion, but nothing’s been done,” Bethel said. “There’s no security here or no emergency telephone number to contact, and there are people here with disabilities. Two of them are on dialysis.
“We know to get out (when the alarm sounds), but seniors need help.”
Bethel said Serenity Lake developer and Gary-based attorney Darnail Lyles attended a Christmas gathering over the holiday, and when told of the issues, he said he would take care of whatever needed to be done. Lyles on Saturday deferred requests for comment to RMC Management, and representatives from RMC were not available.
Serenity Lake is not subsidized housing and is run by tax credits. Of the $12 million invested in the residence, $1.3 million came from the city of Gary, $900,000 from Centier Bank and the rest from state and federal funds.
In order to qualify, residents are responsible for 100 percent of their rent each month, but the rent is based on preset income limits in the area, usually 60 percent of median income though some may be 40 percent or 50 percent. Maximum income levels are determined by HUD and are based on the number of people in a household and the combined income before taxes.
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