Over the last decade, the old Baltimore County housing complex has reached a new low point: collapsed ceilings, sloping floors. Bats, rats, gnats.
The condition of Lakeside Homes at Holiday Heights has grown so bad that it failed a federal inspection in the spring, receiving just 15 points of a possible 100. A failing grade is anything less than 60. Inspectors found a prolific case of a “mold-like substance,” an “extensive” cockroach infestation and holes in the ceiling, among other hazards.
Now the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has broad authority to cancel its contract there and start the process of relocating as many as 303 households. There’s just one problem: There’s not enough affordable housing in Baltimore County to absorb them.
The federally subsidized apartment complex in Southwest Baltimore County has been a prolific source of complaints from residents — for years, if not decades.
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It’s also a well-known source of frustration among federal and county government officials who have failed to take swift action to protect the residents there from further harm, according to public records obtained by The Baltimore Banner, despite mounting evidence that the site is unsafe.

The owner of the Lansdowne apartment complex hopes to sell the place and wash its hands of it for good by the end of the year. In the meantime, some tenants said they feel stuck — with nowhere to go and little hope for what comes next.
“Please get me out of here,” said one tenant, a 58-year-old woman who asked not to be named so as not to jeopardize a lawsuit against the property owner. “I don’t like to come home. I don’t have no enjoyment at my home.”
The complex dates to 1972 and covers more than 16 acres in a quiet, southwest corner of the county with an industrial past. The 303 apartments are spread across nearly two dozen three-story brick buildings situated around a small lake. A playground and clubhouse are near the entrance of the campus.
HUD provides site-specific vouchers to all the residents — but those wouldn’t automatically follow them to new homes.
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“Where else am I gonna go?” said one 23-year-old resident, a mom to two children, who asked not to be identified due to fear of retribution by the property owner and manager. “This is what I can afford right now.”
The woman spent part of her childhood here and moved back when she turned 18. Some of the mice, she said, have been around just as long as some of her neighbors.

One July morning, she points to evidence of a rodent left behind on her baby’s foam playmat and opens drawers to reveal chewed bits of paper with tiny teeth marks. Her oldest son, a bright 7-year-old who likes gaming and crafting, has taken to running to her for protection when he sees one.
Some residents have tried fighting back in court, using the legal system to try to force the property owner to make repairs. Still, some said, even when they’ve won small victories, the complex remains laden with defects and unsafe for them and their children.
Jane Santoni, partner at the Santoni, Vocci & Ortega LLC law firm in Timonium, has represented at least three Lakeside Homes tenants — all of whom have alleged unsafe and unsanitary conditions. Her cases have involved complaints ranging from “grossly neglected repair and maintenance” issues to “raw sewage, water in the walls, electricity not functioning” and chronic bug, insect and rodent infestations, she said.
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“It’s not uncommon for companies to buy these properties ... put Band-Aids on the properties and then, when they go down even further, they sell it,” Santoni said. “For example: For a mouse infestation, they’ll put traps down but they don’t properly fix the holes that have the mice coming in.”
The Millennia Cos., a Cleveland-based real estate company, bought the complex for more than $30 million in 2017, online property records show. The company, founded in 1995, owns large apartment communities throughout the country, many of them designated specifically for older adults or low-income earners. The company also provides property management services.
Millennia’s founder, Frank Sinito, is a prolific contributor to national political causes and candidates, federal campaign finance data shows. He’s supported Democrats and Republicans since at least 1997, the data shows, donating to everyone from President Barack Obama in 2008 to former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
At least some of Millennia’s assets are deeply troubled. HUD has barred the company from earning new federal housing contracts until the end of 2028, according to a HUD spokesperson.
Millennia is in the process of selling the majority of its affordable multifamily holdings and will refocus on its properties in Northeastern Ohio and downtown Cleveland, company spokeswoman Isys Caffey-Horne said in a statement.
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Meanwhile, a HUD statement said the agency is committed to ensuring its voucher recipients live in safe and decent homes and that property owners “manage assets responsibly and in accordance with our rules.”
HUD is reviewing its “enforcement remedies” with regard to Lakeside Homes, the statement added, which may include canceling the contract and offering new vouchers and relocation assistance to the residents.
Lakeside Homes’ problems long predate Millennia’s involvement.
A 1993 Baltimore Sun article once declared it “one of the saddest, most worn down, rat-infested and crime-ridden places to live in Baltimore County, if not the worst.”
Bolstered by government aid, a Rhode Island-based affordable housing firm rehabilitated the then-called Circle Terrace Apartments one by one, with new kitchens, bathrooms and stairwells, among other improvements, The Sun reported.
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The enhancements didn’t last forever. Dominique Randle, who moved into the complex in 2010, said she woke up one morning in 2013 to discover her slippers floating around her bedroom — and water pouring from the pipes underground onto the streets. She brought in a cat, a fat Maltese named King, to help with the mice problem. Her floors tilt, so she’s learned to tape her dresser drawers shut.

Randle said she hasn’t had working air conditioning in more than two years. She has five children, including a baby, and constantly worries about them overheating.
“You’re asking people to pay rent,” Randle, 38, said. “It’s not fair.”
The 58-year-old woman hoping to sue said her asthma has worsened as a result of the living conditions. She has a cat of her own, Tom, whom she’s also tasked with pest control.
In 2015, HUD inspectors noted significant problems with the apartment community, including damaged floors, insect and cockroach infestations, mold, mildew and doors not functioning properly, according to records obtained by The Banner. Still, the complex received a passing grade, meaning it didn’t have to be inspected again for another three years.
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When inspectors went back in 2018, a year after the property sold to Millennia, they found even more problems: with the roof, with fire exits and with “buckling/bulging/sagging” walls. Its inspection score dropped, but it continued to receive a passing grade.
In June 2020, a HUD official who works in Baltimore wrote to Millennia and called the living conditions unacceptable, emails obtained by The Banner show. She had been alerted to a ceiling that had caved and then collapsed, along with a bat infestation that required an exterminator.
An independent engineer determined the ceiling collapse may have occurred due to the use of nails instead of screws, records show.
The engineer urged Millennia to visually inspect the apartments to avoid more collapses and to remove and replace “damaged and visibly wet” drywall. A second engineer offered a similar opinion, records show, noting “improper and insufficient” drywall fastening; floor deflection and deformation; and “compromised roof truss conditions.”


In 2023, the same HUD official in the Baltimore office ordered the company to relocate all the residents on the top floor. There had been a second ceiling collapse, which the HUD official blamed on “structural deficiencies.” There had been no HUD inspection done since 2018, when it last received a passing score.
This past February, HUD and Baltimore County government officials were scheduled to do a walk-through together — until a county employee backed out at the last minute, saying the county didn’t have the legal right to show up unannounced. HUD disagreed. Both sides have sought to shift blame, and responsibility, onto the other, the records obtained by The Banner show.
In March, HUD found flooding in the common area, black mold, seeping sewage water, rodents “nesting in the walls” and nonfunctional electrical outlets. One unit had been boarded up after a fire, HUD noted, but there was no paperwork submitted to it about when the apartment would be repaired and reoccupied. It also noted Lakeside Homes’ lack of a rental license and an outstanding fine of more than $30,000 from the county.
HUD completed a more thorough inspection of the property in April, records show, and found Millennia to be in default of its HUD contract, which stipulates that Millennia provide safe housing. It gave Millennia 30 days to correct the deficiencies and notified the company that it might be sanctioned.
Now, about three months later, what happens next is anyone’s guess.
Caffey-Horne, the Millennia spokesperson, said the company planned to have all the deficiencies addressed by the end of this month and hoped to sell the building by the end of the year. The company also promised to obtain a rental license by the end of July; it hasn’t had one for months, records show.
It’s not clear what a new owner might do with the place — nor what will happen to the residents there in the meantime.

Baltimore County can’t afford to lose Lakeside Homes altogether. The county is under a federal consent decree to add 1,000 new units of affordable housing by 2027 and has reached about 64% of the goal, with another 10% in the works, said Erica Palmisano, a county spokeswoman.
The portion of those 1,000 homes being created for people with the lowest incomes wouldn’t be enough to accommodate every Lakeside Homes household.
Santoni, the attorney, said she has reached out multiple times to county government officials, as well as to Pat Young, the County Councilman who represents Lansdowne. Despite her pleas for assistance, her calls have long gone ignored, she said. Young also did not respond to a request for comment by The Banner.
“I’m not happy with them,” Santoni said. “They should be doing far more to help these people.”
Santoni said her clients tend to live in subpar housing much longer than they should. The only thing worse than subpar housing, she said, is no housing at all.
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