Sebille Manor housing units, seen here on Dec. 9, 2024, were built at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, in the1960s and recently renovated. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Families who must move from 27 recently renovated homes due to potential mold buildup have two options for new housing on the installation, residents said after a forum Tuesday.
Families living in Sebille Manor duplex units 5300 to 5354 received a memo last week recommending they relocate by Feb. 28 to address potential health risks, the residents said after the meeting at Rocker Enlisted Club.
Brig. Gen. Nicholas Evans hosted the forum alongside deputy commander Col. Joshua Lundeby, Chief Master Sgt. Brandon Wolfgang, civil engineers and medical experts with the 18th Medical Group. Residents packed the room, and some could be seen standing in the doorway.
Stars and Stripes was barred from covering the forum by 18th Wing spokeswoman Maj. Alli Stormer, who said by email on Dec. 6 that it was “specifically open to the families in the affected units.”
On March 27, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Japanese contractors completed renovations at Sebille Manor on 50 duplexes, or 100 housing units, for junior enlisted airmen. Move-ins began in July and 27 homes are occupied. The renovation project took three years and cost $53 million.
A flaw in the units’ air conditioning systems that causes moisture buildup was discovered in September. While no black mold has been discovered, unspecified mold was found “in some of the homes,” Stormer said after the forum.
Black mold has a sinister reputation, but any type of mold can cause a range of health problems, including lung infections for the immunocompromised, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
The Air Force does not test for any specific molds and treats all types equally “regarding potential health risks and remediation,” Stormer said by email Wednesday.
Air Force spouse Rachel Thomas, 33, who resides in one of the affected units, has seen mold in her guest bathroom, and engineers with the 718th Civil Engineer Squadron found water leaking in the crawlspace between her roof and ceiling, she said.
Thomas said residents were told that another 58 homes were allocated for the 27 families to choose from. Attendees filled out surveys in which they requested time frames to move, she said.
But Evans and others at the meeting were not clear what would happen if the first two home options were rejected, said Air Force spouse Stephanie Baldridge.
“They said we’ll talk through that when it arises,” she said. “My experience in the past has been if you do not accept their offers, then you move off base.”
Since the issue was discovered in September, “no families have moved into or been offered the affected homes,” the wing has said. Thomas said she and her husband were the last family to move into one of the homes in mid-September.
“And then I heard from other neighbors that they weren’t moving anyone else into that neighborhood,” she said. “So, I don’t know how we got that house and how we were placed there.”
Baldridge, who has four children, said she has seen water dripping from the crawlspace between her ceiling and roof, as well as mold in that space.
She said the issue is frustrating since she already had to move from a house in Stearley Heights, also on Kadena, over the summer. That home had “water seeping up through the floors when it rained” and cracked ceilings, Baldridge said.
“I think stuff fell through the cracks along the way that probably should have been found as they were building them,” she said. “I do think they’re trying their best to fix it as much as they can.”
