Truecella Oliver, a mother of two toddlers, left a temporary stay at a North Charleston motel in 2024 to live in a Charleston public housing apartment hoping her family’s long-term living conditions would improve.
Instead, she has complained about problems with plumbing, electrical issues, heating and cooling system problems in her two-story apartment at the aging Cooper River Courts on Morrison Drive. It is managed by the Housing Authority of the City of Charleston (CHA).
CHA commissioners acknowledged at its March meeting that most of its housing units built in the 1930s by the federal government have outlived their lifespans, and they need to be replaced. The authority had a contract to redevelop Cooper River Courts, but Charleston Mayor William Cogswell asked commissioners to set it aside.
For Oliver, however, the conditions in and outside of her apartment are daily reminders of what it’s like to live in a problem-plagued building that was not designed to last into the 21st century.
During an interview with the Charleston City Paper, Oliver quickly pointed to a series of nagging problems:
- Leak. A leaky drainpipe that protrudes from the ceiling over her dining-area table drips water from the second-floor bathroom where mold is under a coat of paint, she said. She does not use that bathroom.
- Clogs. One side of a two-sided kitchen sink, she complained, backs up when the other sink is filled with water.
- Outlet. A maintenance crew fixed a sparking electrical outlet, she said, but she is afraid to use it.
- Heat. Her monthly heating bill in a poorly insulated four-bedroom, two-bath apartment can be as high as $500, she said. “No matter what I do, it gets higher,” she added.
- Cats. In the grassy area between parallel brown-brick apartment buildings, children play while mothers fear they could be bitten by stray, feral cats, Oliver said.
- Sewage. One row over from Oliver’s apartment, she pointed to stinky raw sewage flowing into the grass from a busted above-ground pipe that attracts swarming flies a few steps from her neighborhood’s back door.
Plans for repairs
The need for repairs will likely be a top priority for the CHA’s next chief executive officer Nathan Frank Simms Jr., who was appointed to the position Monday after the commissioners voted 5-2 to hire him He will start May 4, according to Jessica Munday, CHA’s spokesperson.
In an email to the City Paper, Munday said the agency is aware of the repair concerns at Cooper River Courts.
“This property, along with several others, is part of an active … redevelopment effort, and many of the conditions cited are consistent with aging infrastructure. In the meantime, our maintenance team addresses needs as they are reported.”
On the issue of raw sewage flowing in the grass, Munday wrote: “To date, there have been no reports of raw sewage at Cooper River Courts. If a resident is experiencing that type of issue, it is critical that it be reported immediately so the maintenance team can respond accordingly.”
According to a Cooper River Courts resident, the tenant who lives near the busted sewer pipe is afraid to complain over fears of retaliation.
The CHA has acted on the water and sewer issues at Meeting Street Manor and Cooper River Courts, Munday said. “At a special board meeting on Aug. 18, 2025, the board approved the use of an outside contractor for the full replacement of the water and sewer lines at the site,” she said. The contract for that work is more than $1.3 million, she added.
The presence of feral cats reflects a broader, citywide challenge, Munday said. “We coordinate with appropriate municipal partners when they are reported,” she said.
Redevelopment was coming Oliver said after she attended three community meetings in the past year with The Integral Group, she felt that improved living conditions could be near. In April 2024, the CHA’s commissioners unanimously selected The Integral Group, an Atlanta-based urban development company, to redevelop Cooper River Courts and a portion of the neighboring Meeting Street Manor.
The redeveloped Cooper River Courts will be called Morrison Station. It will have a swimming pool, exercise room, a grocery store to solve the community’s “food desert” dilemma, and possibly a revived branch of the historic Charleston YMCA for recreation programs.
With $5.5 billion in development projects either completed or underway in 25 states, the company said it can do what it has promised in 10 to 12 years. But that timetable has been upended by Cogswell’s request in January that the CHA, a semi-independent commission from the city, cancel its contract with Integral.
In late 2025, Cogswell announced his Project 3500 as a solution to the city’s crisis to meet the demand for affordable housing. The mayor’s goal is to deliver 3,500 new housing units citywide by 2032 through partnerships between the city, the CHA and the WestEdge Foundation. “It’s the most pressing social, economic and cultural issue that we have right now,” the mayor has said.
In a Jan. 12, 2026, letter to CHA commission chairman Gregory K. Voigt, the mayor wrote: “Integral is a well-respected and impressive firm, but much has changed since CHA entered into the current agreement.”
The scope of the redevelopment project has broadened to include a proposed partnership with the city and the West Edge Foundation that “includes non-Housing Authority property to avoid displacement of existing residents and create multiple larger mixed-income and mixed-use redevelopments,” according to the mayor’s letter.
Cogswell requested that CHA “rebid this portion of the project. … Integral would of course be welcome and well positioned to bid on a subsequent offering” under different terms and conditions. Any cost to end the agreement, the mayor said, “would be absorbed by the larger partnership.”
Cogswell was not available this week for comment, said city spokesperson Deja Knight McMillan.
In an email to the City Paper, Voigt wrote: “We appreciate the mayor’s dedication to expanding access to affordable housing across the city and believe the year ahead will build on our current and past efforts and help move key initiatives forward. Conversations with Integral remain ongoing. We value their expertise in working with housing authorities and appreciate their patience as we move through this period of leadership transition.”
After the CHA received Cogswell’s request, Egbert L.J. Perry, Integral’s chairman and CEO, met with housing authority commissioners in early March. He told them, ”We recognize the responsibility you carry for the authority and for the families who depend on it. Projects of this scale succeed when the housing authority, the city and the development partner are aligned in both purpose and structure. We are here in that spirit as partners, committed to ensuring that whatever path is chosen is workable, financially sound and durable over time.”
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