Every few days, Bathsheba Collingwood sprays her furniture and walls with bleach to scrub away new traces of the persistent mold she suspects caused her 3-year-old son’s asthma.
The bathroom pipes have been leaking into her closet for months, leaving puddles on the carpet when she takes long showers. The nails holding her living room floor in place sometimes poke up, stabbing at her feet. In the winter, her heating was unreliable. And as the weather warms, her air conditioning unit isn’t working either.
Still, she’s fighting to keep the two-bedroom apartment on Mercy Drive. If she is forced to leave, the 2007 Acura MDX she spent her stimulus check to purchase from a buy-here-pay-here lot in April will likely be her next home.
