SALISBURY — Two years ago, residents at the Villas at Hope Crest spoke about frustrations with unfulfilled maintenance requests and a lack of onsite oversight, calling the apartment complex a “forgotten island.” Recently, the residents said that a change in the property management company and high manager turnover have made it so that the problems have remained.

The apartment complex has 55 apartments in it and provides housing to people who are 55 and older and live on a restricted income. The property receives funding from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development department through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, with HUD’s database stating that the property receives $456,934 in annual funding.

One of those instances of managerial turnover caused 40 of the residents to sign a petition asking for a former manager, Christy Hicks, to be brought back and pen letters asking the management company, Wynnefield Properties, why she was fired. Hicks was let go in August after working with the company for approximately a month, and she said she was never given a reason as to why.

“We loved her, she was getting stuff done,” said resident Joann Moore.

When another resident said that it seemed as if Hicks was fired because she was “getting stuff done,” Moore said it was as if they were telling her that “you aren’t supposed to come in here and fix this stuff. We don’t do that.”

Moore and fellow resident Anna Jenkins detailed several issues that some fellow residents had trouble getting the management company to fix, including microwaves being broken, water heaters being down and refrigerators being broken, with Moore saying that management told several residents that they would need to get buckets of ice while waiting substantial periods for their refrigerators to be fixed.

Moore said that she had to specifically ask for the door to the utility closet in her apartment to be left unlocked so that she could change her own air filter and deal with a leak in the closet. Jenkins said that she had been dealing with a leaking roof in her apartment for at least four weeks.

Arlene Buswell said that the exterior door close to her apartment was constantly being left open by other residents, even when there was nobody outside, because there was no keypad and residents did not have the key to the door. She said that she has attempted to bring the issue up multiple times with management and nothing had been done. Resident Jeannette Johnson added that the side doors were locked by keys that the residents did not have access to, which meant that the residents in wheelchairs or with other mobility issues were being forced to walk around the building when the doors were closed, sometimes even at night in the dark.

Johnson also said that she was receiving notices that she had not paid her October rent from the prior year, despite having attempted to pay the rent. She said that she was out of town when the rent payment was due at that time, so she worked with the property manager at that time to send the payment through a money order, which the manager confirmed receipt of. However, once that manager left, Johnson said that she began receiving notices that the rent had not been paid. She said she was also assessed a late fee in addition to having to pay the overnight fee for the money order.

“I got a call that my October rent from last year wasn’t paid, and that’s not true, but they told me if I didn’t pay or agree to pay by three o’clock that afternoon that they would post a notice for eviction,” said Johnson.

Several residents, including Moore, said that the first notice that residents received that their rent had not been received was an eviction notice being posted on their door. Hicks said that during her tenure no residents were late on their rent.

At the end of the day, however, many of the residents said that a lack of communication was the main issue. Several residents said that they had no idea when a manager would be in the office on the property and the recertification process required by the LIHTC program did not seem to be handled on a schedule.

Hicks said that when she first began working for the company in July, that she had 21 recertifications that needed to be done as soon as she walked through the office door. Between issues with the system the company used, the air conditioning being down in the recreation room, the emergency phone in the elevator being broken and the office phone not working, Hicks said that she had to go over the head of her boss to the corporate offices to receive any assistance with the multitude of issues she was trying to fix. She also said that she was never given a handbook to help her with the system or lay out the rules for employees.

“They said ‘we’ll get you something,’ but they never give you anything. They never give you any help,” said Hicks.

A short time after communicating with the corporate office, she was fired despite never having been written up, she said. Hicks, a single mother who has been in property management for 20 years, said that she has been looking for work since.

“I don’t understand how some of these companies can come in and play with somebody’s livelihood like this,” said Hicks.

Salisbury Fire Marshal Kimberly Boling said that the most recent report her office had indicated that all cited fire code violations had been abated as of Aug. 16, but that the office had received recent complaints that they would investigate as soon as possible. Salisbury Code Services Manager Michael Cotilla said that outside of a roof leak that was handled by the management company, he had not received any complaints from residents at the apartment recently.

Wynnefield management could not be reached for comment on this story.