Wanda Parker knew something was wrong when water started pouring from the fan above her kitchen stove.

The Wilbourn Estates resident pulled out her cellphone, filmed the cascade and called Mary Emrick, an Annapolis city inspector.

“So have an issue in the unit [about] a year old and tenant has water coming out of her kitchen exhaust fan vent when she turns it on,” Emrick wrote in a July 11 email to her fellow inspectors after visiting Parker’s home. She also noted that the air smelled “musty and damp” inside the unit.

A month later, Emrick and her colleagues condemned Parker’s unit. Four more Wilbourn Estates apartments were condemned last week, all for suspected “microbial” growth, and at least one has the same mysterious leak coming from the kitchen exhaust fan.

Photos in the public inspection reports appear to show mold growing on lampshades, shoes, the back of a dresser and kitchen cabinets. Some reports include speculation that the units have underlying plumbing or HVAC issues, and list problems like water in dryers and windows that don’t seal shut.

“There must be a leaky pipe behind the wall,” inspector Joe Krasnodemski wrote in an email to Emrick, speculating on what may be wrong in Parker’s laundry room.

The “unfit for occupancy” placards have been posted at community off Forest Drive that celebrated its grand opening only 14 months ago. Wilbourn Estates, a federally subsidized voucher community, replaced the aging and crumbling Newtowne 20, a traditional public housing complex that was demolished in 2020.

When Wilbourn Estates opened June 2022, residents and community leaders had high praise for Pennrose, the Pennsylvania company that built and manages the 78-unit development through a public-private partnership.

Now the company is facing serious questions. When Parker’s unit was condemned Aug. 17, Pennrose failed to notify the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, the city’s independent agency that oversees federally funded public housing and sets up public/private partnerships like Wilbourn Estates and Obery Courts, both managed by Pennrose. Melissa Maddox-Evans, HACA’s executive director, said she learned of the first two condemnation notices from The Capital on Aug. 31. Pennrose now has 30 days to get the condemned units fit for occupancy, she said, or the housing authority will halt monthly voucher payments for those units.

It’s a frustrating situation, Maddox-Evans said. Her preference is for residents to approach HACA first so that the authority is aware of the situation when it starts the 30-day clock.

“Now we have an emergency situation,” Maddox-Evans said.

Pennrose declined to answer questions on Sept. 1. Ralph James “R.J.” Saturno, vice president of compliance and legal for the company, said in a statement that “Pennrose is working closely with the Housing Authority and the City of Annapolis to resolve this situation. We have assembled a team of experts to mitigate any issues and are working towards a more permanent solution. We are focused on making sure our residents receive the necessary information and support.”

He declined to share any specific steps that Pennrose, a national firm that specializes in federally subsidized housing, was taking to identify and solve underlying problems at the property. Maddox-Evans, however, said that the company was scheduled to send professional mold inspectors to the community on Sept. 1. Once Pennrose completes work on the condemned units, both city inspectors and HACA’s own “housing quality standards” evaluators must deem the apartments safe before residents can return and voucher payments to Pennrose can resume.

Parker and her two daughters have been living in the Sonesta Extended Stay Suites on Admiral Cochrane Drive for more than a month, in three different rooms. “It is just a lot,” Parker said.

It’s unclear where residents of the three other condemned units are staying. One tenant said she was seeking medical care for respiratory issues, but asked that her name not be used because the buildings are so new. She’s grateful for her new home and worried about rocking the boat with Pennrose.

“I really want this to work out,” she said.

Under legislation passed earlier this year by the Annapolis City Council, tenants have first right of refusal when placed in hotels, and the city can bill landlords in the event city social workers must step in and help families find safe and appropriate housing.

That legislation came in response to city inspectors condemning more than 20 apartments across the city last fall, and some families being sent to hotels cited by Anne Arundel County for health and safety code violations.

Some of those 2022 condemnations were connected to an uptick in complaints from tenants and Annapolis housing advocates. The trio of City Council members serving on the Housing and Human Welfare Committee, all Democrats, were brought to tears at a Sept. 20 meeting after hearing horror stories about mold, rodents, plumbing problems and poor communication.

Four apartment management firms, including HACA and Pennrose, which also manages Obery Court, attended follow-up meetings and were publicly chastised for failing to maintain properties according to city inspection codes.

Elly Tierney, a Ward 1 alderwoman who retired from the construction industry, was especially disappointed that some residents of Wilbourn Estates had plumbing issues. City inspectors ended up serving Pennrose with violation notices for a ceiling leak found in building 1000 on Newtowne Drive.

Tierney said she hoped that the leak was an isolated incident. But the condemned units are in three neighboring buildings: 900, 1000 and 1100 Newtowne Drive.

All the new buildings represent a one-for-one replacement of apartments in Newtowne 20. The last 42 families moved out in March 2020 after a gas leak threatened the entire complex. All were offered temporary housing in other HACA-owned properties — Eastport Terrace, Harbour House, Robinwood or Morris H. Blum Senior Apartments — while the $25 million construction project got underway. More than half returned to the new Wilbourn Estates, named for former HACA director Beverly Wilbourn.

For Parker, who lost her husband in 2021, moving to Wilbourn represented what she hoped would be “a new start” for her and her two daughters. She never thought she’d be living in a hotel a year after moving in.

“We need to come home,” Parker said. “We need to be in our own space.”