Nationwide — Tiarra Logan, an African American mother from Atlanta, Georgia, discovered her heater was blowing fecal matter into her home after a year of unresolved sewage issues. She has sued her landlord and moved her four children into a hotel to protect their health.
Logan moved to Snellville three years ago to escape domestic violence and start fresh for her children, according to Atlanta News First. In June 2024, she noticed a strong sewage smell coming from the drains in her rental home. Despite repeated complaints, her landlord, Invitation Homes, sent contractors who failed to identify or fix the problem.
By October, sewage had backed up into her toilet and bathtub. A contractor eventually traced the issue to a clogged septic tank outside, but the smell persisted. Dark spots appeared around pipes in the garage, and Logan said no proper cleanup was performed, leaving dried sewage in the insulation and air ducts. Her children frequently fell ill and required multiple trips to the emergency room.
In March 2025, Logan hired an attorney to demand repairs and document her children’s health concerns. A court ordered Invitation Homes to pay $6,000 and complete the necessary repairs. Instead, the landlord applied the funds to her rent, preventing her from moving. By November, a contractor confirmed that sewage had spread into the HVAC system, meaning the family had been breathing contaminated air for months.
Logan relocated her children to a hotel just before Thanksgiving. Invitation Homes said it was addressing the issues and approved partial repairs, but a full cleanup of the subfloor and HVAC unit is still needed. The case underscores challenges in Georgia, where landlords are legally required to maintain habitable homes, yet tenants often must fight to enforce this right.