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MILWAUKEE — Leaking ceilings, cracked walls and big holes are the conditions Carolyn Ferguson has been living in for years at the home she rents from Highgrove Holdings, LLC.

READ ALSO | Milwaukee tenants, Common Ground push city leaders for more landlord accountability over nuisance violations

“It rains in here, it rains in the dining room in there,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson is one of several tenants working with community nonprofit Common Ground and the city of Milwaukee to sue her landlord over alleged neglect, code violations, vacancy and unpaid property taxes.

The mother of 17 is raising her last daughter and is fighting cancer. The condition of her home is another burden.

“I’ve got to worry about that, and worry about the surgery, and all this other stuff and I mean he’s just making it even worse for me than it is,” Ferguson said.

On Monday, during an unrelated press conference by Common Ground, Highgrove Holdings owner David Tomblin made a surprise appearance and faced questions from TMJ4 chief investigative reporter Jenna Rae. While he didn’t answer many of them, he did say the group has made progress.

Watch: Milwaukee tenants react after landlord makes first public remarks since being sued by city

Milwaukee tenants react after landlord makes first public remarks since being sued

When asked about the city of Milwaukee’s lawsuit over issues at his properties that he is not addressing, Tomblin responded.

“Well, we are addressing them, but in the proper time,” Tomblin said.

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

Ferguson said she has not seen any of those fixes.

“He hasn’t fixed anything, like I said, out of the nine years I’ve been here, he’s had at least seven years and nothing, nothing at all,” Ferguson said.

The issues are impacting multiple generations of the Ferguson family. Carolyn’s daughter used to live at the property until she moved out after poor conditions were never addressed. More than a year later, that unit is still boarded up.

“When is he going to fix my momma’s ceiling? When is he going to do something about the roof? When are you going to do something about that basement downstairs? I would ask him a lot of questions,” Edwina Ferguson said.

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

TMJ4 reporter Brendyn Jones called Tomblin Monday night. He picked up and requested to know the names of the tenants who were interviewed. Jones said that information would be available after the story was published, so he declined to answer questions.

While Tomblin said there will be a press conference with tenants soon, he did not commit to a date or time.

Common Ground’s Kevin Solomon said the pressure on Tomblin is working.

“It’s political, and it shows that our pressure is clearly getting under his skin. The lawsuit will play out; Common Ground will stay on it,” Solomon said.

The next court date for the lawsuit is at the end of July.

This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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