San Francisco State University

What's the story?

I am a junior at San Francisco State University, and I live in the residential apartments. Recently a meeting was held to inform the rest of the residence community about what I already knew- the apartments leak and are filled with mold. In most apartments the mold is just in the walls, and leaking is minimal, but mine is different.

I have a medical condition called sleep apnea and I have to use a machine that recycles air into my nose and mouth and then goes back through the machine. I was living with a roommate on the ninth floor of the building, but she is sensitive to noise when she sleeps, so I was forced to move into another apartment. When I first applied for university housing I requested a single and provided documentation of the medical condition, but my request was ignored.

No singles were available anywhere in the building, or in the either of the dorms, so I was moved into an apartment on the mezzanine level- that's when my little nightmare began. I was told that the apartment I would be moving into had a problem with water intrusion, but that it was confined to one bedroom, which would remain empty. When I walked into the apartment I knew immediately that I had been lied to. The smell almost knocked me out, and when I walked into the living room, I could hear my feet squishing when I walked. The water damage was in both bedrooms and the living room- no efforts had even been made to clean the place up before I moved in.

I had to put in a maintenance request for them to come in and use a shop-vac to suck up all the water from the carpet, but even then it was still wet and the stench hadn't gone away. Finally after two weeks of heavy rain I was given some sandbags and told that they would keep the water out. I put them on the floor and hoped for the best, but they did little to keep the water out. I then had to spend time putting towels down on the floor to dry it, and put air fresheners all around the apartment.

The walls are cracking and the plaster is falling off in some spots. In the living room the crack is so big that I can see the wall underneath. Now there is a crack in the ceiling and water is coming from there too, so I had to get a bucket to put on the windowsill. Besides all of this, there is the worst part, which is the mold, that is all over the walls. There are patches of mold in every room, so I am constantly breathing it.  I experience headaches that only occur when I am in my apartment, which is a good portion of my day. I also have symptoms related to my mold allergy, such as watery eyes, sneezing, etc.

Why is this such a big deal?

Beyond the obvious health implications for everyone who lives in the building, especially those that live on the mezzanine floor, there is a measure of deception involved. I was not told that this floor has the worst water intrusion problem in the building, or that it was supposed to be off limits and that it was used as an overflow floor when the housing office had no other options, or was unwilling to shift people to make spaces available. My space on the ninth floor is still empty.

A meeting was held with the president of the university, Robert Corrigan, and he and his staff conveniently danced around our questions. We were told that the mold did not present a health risk for students who didn't have compromised immune systems (AIDS, lupus, cancer), asthma, or other health conditions. The molds found were stachybotys and aspergillus, one which is considered toxic and the other potentially toxic by the California Department of Health Services.

The building is being closed at the end of the semester, so obviously this is a serious problem. My question, which was ignored by President Corrigan, is: Why are students being placed in substandard housing?

If someone you knew were a college student, would you want them to live in these kind of conditions?

If you lived in an apartment that leaked and had mold, would you keep paying to live there?

Update: The building is officially being closed at the end of the semester, which means that I will be forced to move to the dorms for my summer class. Also, I paid $145 to reserve a room at Centennial Village, without even knowing whether the building will be finished or not. Even President Corrigan has admitted that the building won't be finished on time (see below: Village not on schedule), and that the university will have to find housing for all of us. In the worst case scenario (as if this whole thing isn't a worst case scenario) we could be living in motels, or on Treasure Island.

I also discovered that the building, according to someone at the rent board, is not covered by those laws, because the building is too new. Thismeans I can't ask for a reduction in rent because the apartment doesn't meet the habitability standards. My only recourse, apparently, is to take the university, a large, state run entity, to small claims court. If anyone has more information on this, please email me.

5/8/00: I woke up this morning and the carpet in my bedroom and living room was soaked. It rained all day yesterday, and all night. The apartment has a wonderful stench: wet carpet and moldy walls. I put in a custodial request, but I guess they were too busy today, so it will have to wait until tomorrow or god knows when.

10/30/00 Well, there hasn't been much going on, so this page hasn't been updated in a while. The apartment building has been closed down, or as I like to say, condemned. We have all been moved into off campus housing until the Village be finished, which is a whole topic in itself. Luckily, I've living in itself. Luckily I'm living in a nice apartment, close to campus, which is mold free.