residents of an Atlantic City public housing unit say they're still living in deplorable conditions more than a year after going to court with their complaints a recent government audit slammed the city's Housing Authority for dozens of violations calling it quote a total failure now South Jersey Congressman Jeff vandrew is calling for a federal takeover of the authority Ted Goldberg was on the scene today as residents there rallied demanding urgent action every time we try to voice our opinions about something they telling us to calm down you got to talk to them nice I'm tired of talking to them nice they not they don't respect us as residents they is the Atlantic City Housing Authority a group that's come under Fire as residents around a say their homes have been neglected the ceiling caved in in my home um and it was raining in my home I have M do I had mold the floors were separating from um the steps my children were getting getting locked in a unit for the past year they don't have a maintenance man and every time I call my sink is falling down in my bathroom and I've called several times about it and they say they don't have a maintenance man there's a lot of us out here that are homeless because of what they have done to us we can't live in the units but then we don't have nowhere to go my granddaughter have been in and out the hospital with asthma and I believe it's because of the mold that's in the house and they painted over it they didn't remove it or anything they just painted over it people who live in these units spoke outside of City Hall today hoping that more people hear their complaints about the public housing complexes the media and the Press don't always tell our story so we have to have our own press conference to tell our story and what's been going on here been going on for years and it's been staying locally I'm frustrated I'm angry I'm mad and I'm not and I'm not going to hide the fact that I am mad and I blame the government too it's supposed to be safe it's supposed to be clean it's supposed to be uh again the most essential things in life are being able to take a a hot shower and be able to have hot water last year Congressman Jeff Andrew got involved in the ongoing dispute between the ACA and Stanley Holmes we reported on complaints from Stanley Holmes residents who say they're lucky to have heat and hot water on a given day van Drew asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development to take a look Hud's findings became public last week out of a score of 100 they received a 45 so that's not even you know that's an F I mean they just completely failed on substantially important things these aren't cosmetic issues on Monday van Drew sent a letter to HUD secretary Marsha fudge asking for a federal takeover of Stanley Holmes saying that quote my community holds no confidence in the Authority's ability or intentions we didn't receive a response from the AA but in response to the letter they told the Press of Atlantic City quote neither he nor his office contacted me before issuing the statement I agree with the congressman that the ACA faces serious challenges however these challenges did not start with this board but rather result from a long history of Prior failures well before the current board was in place HUD sends people in uh they they you know help initiate contracts with individuals that are going to be able to restore uh these facilities these H this housing to at least a li a livable I want them to take over and do something make our living conditions um much better until that happens expect these residents to continue bringing attention to the issues they're having with their homes in Atlantic City naac I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight news