00;00;00;04 - 00;00;13;13 Thomas Ouellette Troy Nightbourne, is currently living at Bingham Square Apartments. He still gets notification that his rent is overdue. To date, the number is over $20,000. But Nightbourne says there's no way to pay what he owes. 00;00;13;16 - 00;00;29;13 Troy Nightbourne Every time I've tried, it tells me to contact a number. Reached out to contact that number. This number has been disconnected, but yet I still get notification each and every month saying, hey, you owe this much money. Hey, this is your late fee. Also, physically, there is no way to pay. 00;00;29;21 - 00;00;55;09 Thomas Ouellette In December of 2022, Nightbourne and others say the leasing office was closed and no one from management has returned. Shortly after the complex's rent payment portal became inactive, along with the associated phone numbers, boxes filled with vital tenant information like social security numbers were left open to anyone who could get through the door. My born said management sent a maintenance crew to dump the documents into an on site dumpster and nail the office door shut. 00;00;55;13 - 00;01;14;06 Thomas Ouellette The apartment owners have also neglected to pay the complex's utilities bill between Bingham Square and Madison Square Apartments. Owners now own nearly $1 million in unpaid utilities. So much time has passed since maintenance was last on the premises that some electrical boxes have been completely stripped by looters, and others covered by foliage. 00;01;14;12 - 00;01;22;20 Troy Nightbourne Dude, we're the ghetto of the ghetto. The people in the ghetto don't come to here unless you want to dump off a body or do a daytime drug deal. 00;01;22;22 - 00;01;45;14 Thomas Ouellette Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing the owners for violating the deceptive Consumer Sales Act, Home Loan Practices Act and Uniform Business Organizations Act. In a press release, Rokita states the way that hardworking Hoosiers are alleged to have been treated by these defendants is disgraceful. Nightbourne says he and his neighbors witnessed scavengers and drug users breaking into empty buildings on a daily basis. 00;01;45;16 - 00;01;59;13 Troy Nightbourne One day I'd left the apartment up here. I literally watched a small like f ten little little truck S10 pull up. Four people piled out, went straight up, kicked the door and took all the appliances out. 00;01;59;15 - 00;02;18;29 Thomas Ouellette Kim Townsend is the CEO of the Anderson Housing Authority. Since 2018, she's been trying to improve conditions at the complex. That's before it was purchased by Property Resource Associates. After it became Bingham Square, Kim says she was committed to working with the new owners. That is until complaints started coming in and she went to take a look for herself. 00;02;19;02 - 00;02;38;27 Kim Townsend I went out to property that had a veteran in it, an elder, an older man. He was a veteran and went in. My inspectors said, Kim, you have to come out here for yourself and see this. So I went and as soon as I stepped in his apartment, water kind of came up. He was on oxygen. He had no air. 00;02;38;28 - 00;02;50;10 Kim Townsend They had some portable system. It was really clammy in there, very damp. And that's not good for people that have breathing problems. He has COPD, all that stuff. 00;02;50;18 - 00;03;12;23 Thomas Ouellette Visiting the complex now there are signs of black mold, indoor flooding and water damage to the foundation of the buildings. Most of the units look on inhabitable. And then there's the fire damage. The J building at Bingham Square caught fire in May of 2022. It has since then been condemned, but that's the only building to be condemned, according to the Anderson Department of Municipal Development. 00;03;12;26 - 00;03;25;25 Thomas Ouellette Former Anderson City Council president Rebecca Crumes is also intensely focused on conditions at Bingham Square. To her, the most frustrating part is that the residents still living at the complex don't want to stay there, but they can't leave either. 00;03;26;02 - 00;03;48;06 Rebecca Crumes Troy is one of the last of the Mohicans because he said he can't move no. 2 or $3000 in one apartment. He does not get that much. He has to be in a rent controlled, low income housing. Like you have a housing problem. You can have 500 people on a waiting list, waiting for a hub with with HUD approval to. 00;03;48;09 - 00;04;09;18 Thomas Ouellette The city's Department of Municipal Development says orders have been given to the owner to vacate both Bingham Square and Madison Square Apartments. But the residents of Bingham Square say none of them have received official documentation telling them to leave. Phone numbers and emails associated with Property Resource Associates are no longer active. I did reach an associate of the owner, but they declined to answer any questions. 00;04;09;21 - 00;04;29;12 Thomas Ouellette A court date hasn't yet been set for the attorney General's lawsuit. Property Resource Associates is also being sued by the City of Anderson. Its redevelopment commission and its locally owned utilities over unpaid fees, mortgage and bond payments and not fulfilling an economic development agreement. The lawsuit was filed in July of last year and is still winding its way through pretrial motions. 00;04;29;14 - 00;04;58;09 Thomas Ouellette The state level lawsuit also accuses the Bingham Square, owner of, quote, emotional distress caused to all residents of Bingham Square and Madison Square tenants who experienced physiological harm or fear of future physiological harm as a result of defendant's failure to pay for utilities. Knight, born, says he and his neighbors want the same thing as any person in Anderson, a place where they can feel safe when they sleep every night, a place where they don't have to worry about their building falling apart around them, and a place they can call home. 00;04;58;12 - 00;05;02;06 Thomas Ouellette But right now, all they can afford to hope for is that they're seen. 00;05;02;09 - 00;05;23;05 Troy Nightbourne I want people to realize how chaotic and how much of a mess it is that it has been for like the last 4 or 5, three, 4 or 5 years. The knowledge that somebody has realized how badly they messed up and how confusing it is for the rest of the neighborhood and the city. 00;05;23;07 - 00;05;26;02 Troy Nightbourne Because people are hearing one thing and we're hearing. 00;05;26;02 - 00;05;28;23 Troy Nightbourne Something else, and it's just. 00;05;28;25 - 00;05;30;22 Troy Nightbourne But I just want people to know. 00;05;30;24 - 00;05;32;29 Troy Nightbourne What's really going on out here. 00;05;33;01 - 00;05;35;29 Thomas Ouellette In Anderson. Thomas Ouellette, IPR news.