Camden Apartment Complex Cited for 156 New Housing Violations
A recent annual inspection found 156 code violations at All American Gardens, an 84-unit apartment complex in Camden’s Centerville section. The findings come three years after the property faced a condemnation threat over life-threatening safety problems.
Camden officials said none of the violations identified in the latest inspection were classified as life-threatening. The property’s current status remains under review while management addresses the findings and the city prepares a follow-up inspection.
What the latest inspection found
The city of Camden’s Bureau of Housing recorded 156 violations during the recent annual inspection, according to city spokesman Vince Basara in reporting by WHYY News.
Camden’s housing-inspection process requires the owner to receive a violation record and a date for reinspection. The city’s Housing Bureau says court action may be instituted when violations have not been abated, and the municipal property code provides enforcement tools for unsafe or noncompliant properties.
How the findings compare with 2023
In 2023, Camden code inspectors found life-threatening safety violations at All American Gardens and officials threatened condemnation. Residents at the time reported insect infestations, black mold and mushrooms growing from walls.
Basara told WHYY that Nationwide Housing Management corrected most of the earlier life-safety violations. He said some remaining violations from that period were processed through municipal court.
The latest inspection differs in one important respect: City officials said none of the 156 current violations received the life-threatening classification used in 2023. The reporting does not establish that the complex is currently facing condemnation.
Residents describe continuing problems
Residents interviewed by WHYY described conditions they said remain difficult in some apartments. Their accounts included mold and mildew, insects and rodents, electrical problems, leaking windows, low water pressure and broken refrigerators, ovens and cooling systems.
Nikky Tapia told WHYY that heating problems, a malfunctioning refrigerator, mice and low water pressure have affected her apartment. She also said her cooling system was not working. April Morris said her oven and refrigerator did not work and described mold, mildew, rodents and electrical problems. Morris told WHYY she had begun withholding rent while seeking repairs.
Jacquelyn Wood told WHYY she experienced electrical and pest problems, leaking windows and what she believed was asbestos in a bathroom wall. These were individual resident accounts and were not presented as conditions affecting every unit in the complex.
Management says conditions have improved
Biagio Caruso, vice president of Nationwide Housing Management, told WHYY that the property had “substantially changed” and improved over the past three years. He said new staff and management had worked to address problems and that the property was treated regularly by a licensed extermination company.
Caruso said management was unaware of some complaints raised by residents. He also pointed to improved recent performance in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspection, according to WHYY. The HUD-related score and inspection timing were presented in the report as context supplied by management and were not independently confirmed here from a property-specific HUD record.
Other residents told WHYY that conditions had improved. Trinette Brown said management had become more attentive, while Raysean Perkins, who moved in during 2024, said he had no complaints about maintenance responses.
Reinspection expected within 30 to 60 days
Camden plans to schedule reinspections within 30 to 60 days to allow time for repairs. Basara said violations that remain uncorrected could result in code-enforcement tickets, summonses or both.
The city’s Housing Bureau says its inspections enforce standards intended to protect residents’ health, safety and welfare. Camden’s property code provides for annual residential inspections, correction requirements and court-related remedies when violations are not addressed.
For residents at All American Gardens, the next concrete step is the city’s reinspection and any notices or enforcement actions that follow. The current record shows a substantial number of code violations, but it does not show that the city has classified any of the 2026 findings as life-threatening or that condemnation is now underway.
Sources
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