Call 4 Action: Sewage supports in regional apartment, triggering health inspections

TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - - Renters of an apartment building in the Town of Tonawanda are fed up with revolting living conditions.

They called News 4 trying to find assistance.

Some of the living conditions in the Newell Heights Apartment complex are absolutely revolting with a strong odor of urine in among the structures.

Recently, an occupant gotten in touch with News 4 about sewage not being cleaned up in the basement of among the apartment buildings. Occupants have likewise grumbled about disrepair, rats, and mold. The Erie County Health Department carried out an examination recently and verifies that sewage was getting into the building.

The county health department says that the owner of the property was notified and a re-inspection will be done.

News 4 called the Town of Tonawanda building department and on Tuesday, the town sent out a code enforcement officer to Newell Heights to perform an inspection. According to citizens, the majority of that sewage has actually been tidied up by an upkeep team.

" They repaired the sewage only because they understood you were coming, that's the only reason that they fixed the raw sewage, due to the fact that they understood Channel 4 was coming, otherwise it would've sat here and I feel me doing this is going to assist people to benefit, now that it's being resolved that they will have to repair it," stated Mark DiFulvio, a Newell Heights occupant.

Newell Heights is owned by Birgo Realty, which is based in Pittsburgh. The company states it's mindful of the concerns at Newell Heights and is working to attend to the problems. Because it's an older property and there have actually been acts of vandalism there, the owner of the property says its been tough to maintain the complex. Newell Heights is an apartment complex that accepts Section 8 vouchers.

" I have complained and they do not wish to fix it, part of the factor is since I decline to pay them rent till they repair stuff," DiFulvio said. "We've had several grievances of rats, we have mold in our basement, they simply fixed our human raw sewage, we had in our basement about an inch of human waste in our basement that existed and it smelled absolutely nasty."

Birgo Realty says the safety of their occupants is their leading priority. News 4 is still waiting for full information of both examinations from the Town of Tonawanda and the Erie County Health Department.

Jeff Preval is an acclaimed anchor and press reporter who joined the News 4 team in December 2021. See more of his work here.