Looking for help — and a little hot water

NORWALK — It's been a month since Hailey Allridge moved into Key Estates Mobile Home Park, and she still can't take a shower with hot water. Allridge has asked her landlord, John Paliga, to fix her water situation on several occasions. She's also asked about the hole in her ceiling — she covers the bathroom sink with a trash bag because the ceiling leaks — the broken electrical outlets in her living room, and she still doesn't have a key to her mailbox. Allridge has texted Paliga. She's called him. Recently, she's resorted to calling from other people's phones because she said he blocked her number. She's still waiting for help to arrive. "I feel like he's robbing me blind," Allridge said. "I'm overly frustrated." Numerous calls from the Reflector to Paliga were not returned. Key Estates piqued Allrdige's attention because it was a cheap option. When she toured a unit, she considered the living space "very promising." It featured brand new hardwood floors, a new toilet, and Alldridge said it looked clean. The home she walked into after signing her lease, however, looked vastly different from the one she toured. The toilet seat was coated in debris. Some dresser drawers lacked bottoms. The pantry featured a hole in its floor. Allridge thought she was signing a lease for the unit she toured. She was wrong. "That was his plan all along was to give me the other apartment," Allridge said. "He wouldn't let me do anything until I signed the lease. I probably should've seen that as a red flag in the first place. But this being my first place by myself, I didn't." At first, Paliga was responsive to Allridge's plight. He sent maintenance workers to her unit the same day she moved in. They fixed lighting issues in her bedroom and bathroom. Since then, Allridge said she hasn't received any help. She's still relying on her sister, with whom she lived before moving to Key Estates, for showers and shelter. She merely keeps her clothes at her mobile home. When her son was in town to visit last week, he also stayed at his aunt's house instead of his mother's new place. "I can't even bring my son to visit," Allridge said. "I can't even bring him to my apartment because i don't have water. He's been here for a week and he's been staying at my sister's house." Allridge has tried to report her situation to Huron County Public Health, but she said the health department's voicemail is full. Her full-time bartending job makes it hard for her to visit the health department in person. Norwalk zoning officer Mitch Loughton said he's heard complaints about Key Estates before, but they mostly concerned minor issues such as lawn care, trash pick-up or cracked stairs. The Ohio Department of Commerce did not respond to the Reflector's phone calls. In the meantime, Allridge is locked into the one-year lease she signed. Her next plan is to escrow her rent to motivate Paliga to make the repairs she's been asking about for the last month. But after that … she's running out of ideas. "It literally is my only move," Allridge said. "I don't know what to do. "There's going to be a point where I say, 'What else can i do?"'