When affordable housing becomes hazardous

Are the living conditions at Mountain Vista apartments safe?

In a previous article, Boomtown explored the broader issue of housing insecurity in Los Alamos, profiling several residents who struggled to find safe and affordable housing. This follow-up delves deeper into the specific conditions at Mountain Vista apartments, where tenants reported hazardous living environments despite living in a federally subsidized housing complex.

Black mold in the cavity left after cabinets were removed inside one apartment at Mountain Vista. Source: From Los Alamos County emails obtained by Boomtown via an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) request.

LeAnn Slocum still remembers the day she came home to find a foot-wide hole in her kitchen ceiling. Water and black mold poured onto the floor, the latest crisis in an ongoing battle she’d been fighting for years at Mountain Vista apartments, an income-restricted complex in Los Alamos.