When we moved into our Fort Bragg home, we started having many issues right off the bat. At first it was minor things but as the year went on, the problems started to expose themselves. There was so much mold...my door frames, black dust coming from vents, the carpets by our doors were soaked to the touch, et cetera. For the first 6 months in this home my husband was deployed and I was going through a high risk pregnancy- it was extremely overwhelming for both of us.

After having multiple maintenance request ignored by Corvias, I decided to take things into my own hands-I suffer with asthma and mold allergies and needed the problem fixed! Not knowing what to do next, I demanded to be put into contact with the housing manager for the Pope Housing Office. I also purchased my own mold testing kits and started documenting everything. For months I was ignored by the housing manager and was told I was “crazy” by the staff. They told me, “It’s just dust,” and “This is the south-it’s normal.”

Nothing helped until AFHA stepped in with advocacy services. Corvias assumed my family didn’t know their rights, and with my own research and following AFHA’s advocacy steps to resolve the issues, we were able to get resolution. It’s funny how fast a flip switched with Corvias once I involved an advocate. I went from being ignored, to being offered a new home within 24 hours. I couldn’t thank the advocates at AFHA enough for helping my family!

Our fight with Corvias took almost a year but was well worth it. We moved in to Pope housing in 2020-we were on orders to Alaska and needed temporary housing. When we signed for our house, we had medical documentation that our daughter required a home with no carpet due to her asthma. The only home we were given the option for had carpet in the living room. We made the mistake of believing housing when they told us that it was no problem-they would remove it.

As months passed by, we called often to ask when the carpet would be removed. Their minds had changed, apparently, had now Corvias claimed the carpet was new and they would not remove it. We knew this was untrue-during our move-in inspection, we noted stains on the carpet and fraying around the edges. A couple more months pass by as we continue to request the removal and there were ever-changing requirements from Corvias to get the issue resolved. We complied with every hoop they asked us to jump through, all the while my daughter was getting more and more ill.

Eventually, Corvias agreed to remove the carpet, but told us we would be required to pay for it!

So, we decided to reach out for help from AFHA. The advocates from AFHA helped teach me how to show Corvias they were violating both my daughter’s rights and federal laws. Once that happened, they finally agreed to remove the carpet…at their cost! I collected photo evidence during the removal and it turns out the carpet had been heavily used, as you could see from the padding and flooring beneath. My daughter suffered dearly, and Corvias just didn’t care. I am so grateful for the help and education AFHA gave me about the rights of my child, to keep her safe in our home!

AFHA’s free resources helped my family navigate a very difficult situation and make it out on the other side with a safe place to live. 

We moved into an MHPI home on Fort Bragg in April 2020. For an entire year, our baby suffered from chronic respiratory illness that went unexplained by our doctor until we began investigating our environment. After a more thorough inspection completed by the MHO office (NOT the private MHPI property manager) they found severe water damage and standing water in the crawl space of our small 1 story house. It was the perfect storm of conditions to feed mold growth, disproportionately common in military housing. 

Not sure where to turn, we contacted AFHA. AFHA provided education on the tenants bill of rights, guidance and coaching that enabled us to confidently advocate for ourselves. After being displaced from our home for 60 days, we were able to break lease with no penalty and move to a safe home off-post whereupon our son’s symptoms completely disappeared. AFHA’s education on the informal and formal dispute processes for residents of MHPI homes was invaluable to our case. It is because of AFHA’s programming that we have a safe home and a healthy child again.