Bernice Parrish had to throw away some of her clothes and furniture when she moved into a new apartment in Indianapolis over the summer.
The raw sewage that oozed from the toilet at her last place left a smell that she couldn’t get rid of.
“The odor was horrific,” Parrish told Mirror Indy in August. “It was so strong that I had to open the back door, the front door and the windows to let the air out.”
Things got so bad that Parrish went to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with an acute kidney injury because of exposure to raw sewage.
Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County, which runs the local health department, has opened six investigations this year related to Parrish’s former apartment on the northwest side, according to a Mirror Indy review of health department records.
One of those cases led to a lawsuit in July against the property owner, GHF Crystal Bay LLC, which is based in New York. Health and Hospital has filed at least 34 lawsuits against the company since October 2021.
The state attorney general sued the previous owner over conditions at the property, which is now called Estates at Crystal Bay. Michael Red, an attorney representing GHF Crystal Bay, told Mirror Indy that the company has invested more than $10 million into the property since buying it.
“When we bought this property, it was in deplorable condition,” Red said. “We’ve undertaken enormous expense and effort to make it back into something people deserve to live in.”
Most of the health agency’s lawsuits against GHF Crystal Bay have been dismissed, including the one for Parrish’s former apartment. In a court filing, the health agency said the unit is now in compliance.
Still, one enforcement case remains open and another has violations dating back to May. More reinspections were scheduled for this month.
For Parrish, the fact that a lawsuit came and went with just a few pieces of paperwork felt like a loss.
“Do you mean to tell me they’re getting away with this?” she said.
Not according to Health and Hospital.
In fact, Parrish’s case demonstrates part of what the health agency says is a practice meant to hold property owners accountable while keeping residents safe.
‘The enforcement is happening’
In the past, Health and Hospital likely would have dismissed the lawsuit regardless of whether Parrish’s unit was in compliance.
That’s because the agency would dismiss cases when the unit became vacant. Parrish moved out of her old apartment the day after she went to the hospital in July. She now lives in another apartment within Estates at Crystal Bay.
Local housing advocates and some city-county councilors have criticized the agency. They said dismissing those cases incentivized landlords to get rid of renters who complained about the condition of their home, leaving the next tenant stuck in the same situation.
The county health department’s environmental bureau chief told Mirror Indy in March that the judge who handles those cases was making the agency dismiss them. The judge told Mirror Indy that isn’t true.
A spokesperson for Health and Hospital later told Mirror Indy that the agency has limited resources and heavy caseloads, so it has to prioritize cases where a renter is actually living in the unit.
But Shelley Gupta, who was associate general counsel for Health and Hospital, told Mirror Indy in September that the agency is keeping cases about vacant units open internally. That allows inspectors to continue checking on a unit with health violations and get updates from the landlord if someone else moves in.
“The enforcement is happening,” Gupta told Mirror Indy in September. “Everything is running very smoothly.”
Health and Hospital made the update to its enforcement process in January, Gupta said. The change wasn’t mentioned to Mirror Indy during its reporting throughout this year.
City-County Councilor Andy Nielsen, who’s been calling for a change in enforcement practices at the health agency, said he didn’t know about the new protocol until spring.
Mirror Indy spoke to Gupta shortly before she left Health and Hospital. The agency’s CEO, Paul Babcock, declined in September to answer questions about enforcement practices, saying that was better left for attorneys.
Joel Weyrauch, a spokesperson for the agency, told Mirror Indy that the delay was because of internal miscommunication. He said the health department’s housing and neighborhood health office made the change, but the legal department didn’t know about it right away.
Nielsen: This is the ‘bare minimum’
Nielsen said the agency’s new practice is the “bare minimum” of what he and housing advocates are looking for.
Ultimately, he wants to see a health agency that can use stronger enforcement to be more proactive in protecting renters — both current and future.
Still, he still considers this change a step in the right direction.
“Obviously,” Nielsen said, “the pressure and questions and concerns we brought up are being heard, and they’re trying to wrestle with that.”
Nielsen said he expects to meet with Health and Hospital later this year for an update.
Meanwhile, Parrish is still dealing with problems at her new apartment, which is also owned by GHF Crystal Bay.
There have been multiple gas leaks since she moved in, Parrish said, and she went without hot water for a couple of months.
“Nobody’s listening,” she said. “It’s almost like you’re not important.”
Health and Hospital filed another lawsuit against the landlord in early September, although that case was dismissed and Parrish said her problems were taken care of.
Then, the gas company sent Parrish a letter in early October, telling her of “unsafe conditions.” The gas was shut off again.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Tyler Fenwick covers housing and labor. Contact him at 317-766-1406 or tyler.fenwick@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @ty_fenwick and Bluesky @tyfenwick.bsky.social.
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