A man paying $3,000 monthly rent in Washington, D.C., expected luxury apartment services. However, he was left without access to water or air conditioning for almost two days. The victim took to Reddit to share a lengthy story of the incident with the caption: “The absolute worst building in Washington D.C. Do not move here!” He wrote that the “nightmare of a building” was advertised as a luxury apartment called Affinity’s 2M St. However, he began to notice several things that went unchecked by the building management.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was when water and air conditioning were cut off from the “luxury” apartment building for 30 hours. When the tenants asked for an explanation, the apartment’s front desk told them they were “working on it.” However, nothing was done to remedy the situation.
The tenants were “burning up, unable to shower,” and having trouble breathing. At one point, an ambulance had to be called because one of the tenants almost passed out from heat exhaustion. Despite all this, nothing was done to fix it.
After 30 hours of living under uncomfortable conditions, the water was finally restored. However, the water began to leak from the poster’s bathroom ceiling, flooding everything and causing more damage.
He then listed several other basic amenities that were not working in the apartment —the laundry room was contaminated with mold, his windows had been broken shut for months, and his dishwasher was smoking and “crackling like it was going to explode.”
The victim’s breaking point came when he lost his key and went to the front desk for a replacement. However, he was yelled at and threatened by the guard, causing him to break down in tears. “This isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s trauma. This building is gaslighting its residents while ignoring clear violations of safety, health, and basic human decency.”
The man’s story triggered an outpouring of heartfelt responses from several social media users online. Most of them also shared similar stories, saying they knew people who once stayed in the apartment building. One user whose friends stayed at 2M said they similarly experienced severe flooding. “…Their washer also always broke and flooded their apartment, and maintenance did nothing.”
A user who was a Red Cross officer said they handled calls about the same building and came to the conclusion that it was a “bad case of a disaster landlord.”
Notably, the poster later shared an update on his situation. He wrote that he spoke to housing advocates about the issue but they were unpleasant and dismissive towards him. They also said that they couldn’t do anything much since the A.C. had already been fixed.
Despite this, the man remains hopeful that he will find a solution and is still seeking opinions from others. “…What should I do? I can’t lose hope.”
