Michigan State Junior Emily Gibbings noticed the ceiling of her Abbot Manor apartment leaking three months ago and says it's only gotten worse.
"In the hallway the walls are black now from mold, and there's a puddle, a permanent puddle, from the leaking," Gibbings said. "The floor is caving in like it's about to break. The carpet's always wet. It's really bad."
The city is forcing her and the other residents of the building to move out.
"At about 10 a.m. they said 'You guys gotta be out by 5, no other option, it's going to be locked up,'" Michigan State Junior Evan Harless said.
The city wants people out of the building before it rains because more water would likely mean more damage, East Lansing Housing and University Relations Administrator Annette Irwin said.
"We observed some units where the ceiling was compromised, and the drywall was certainly in danger of falling if they were to get wet again," Irwin said.
Residents say they are shocked but not really surprised.
"You can just look at the side of the walls and see the walls are bowed up, you can see that in the structure itself," Harless said. "You walk down the halls, the hallways are crooked. I'm surprised action wasn't taken earlier, or maybe I'm not surprised, considering the situations that have been taking place."
"But they didn't do anything until the fire department got involved, it's like they kept sweeping it under the rug," Gibbings said.
Residents have been moved to apartments at Chandler Crossings and some are being temporarily housed in hotels.
"We're students, we have work, we have classes, to move everything in one day that's just very unrealistic," Gibbings said.
The city got involved because of a complaint from a resident, Irwin says. She encourages others to come to the city if they're having similar housing problems.
FOX 47 News reached out to Westpac Campus Communities, that manages the property, but did not receive a response by the time this was published.
