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…