Jackie Talarico said her family spent thousands of dollars trying to constantly clean up mold when they lived in privatized military housing at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, where her husband was assigned.

“We were told that was completely normal and would be taken care of with regular household cleaning, and that if I just cleaned and kept scrubbing it up, basically it would be taken care of,” Talarico told Task & Purpose on Thursday.

Nearly three years later, they learned that the mold was caused by several leaks in the house, she said. They were ultimately evicted because the private housing company, Balfour Beatty Communities, could not fix all the problems with the home within the time required by her lease. Her family is among dozens currently engaged in a lawsuit against Balfour Beatty Communities.

“It’s sad because these families like ours have sunk into debt after throwing everything onto the curb because of companies like Balfour Beatty refusing to provide the bare minimum of assistance,” said Talarico, whose family currently lives in off-base housing in Maryland.

In response to questions about Talarico’s comments, a Balfour Beatty Communities spokesperson provided Task & Purpose with the following statement: “The health, safety, and well-being of our residents are always our highest priority. While we cannot comment on matters involved in ongoing litigation, we take all resident concerns seriously and remain committed to providing safe, quality housing across our communities.”

Talarico is one of hundreds of current and previous residents of privatized military housing who said they were forced to pay out of pocket to deal with a variety of problems in response to a recent survey.

The survey was conducted last month by the Change the Air Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for better indoor air quality. The group collected data from a total of 3,401 people about privatized military housing at more than 57 bases across 30 states, including Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Fort Hood, Texas; Naval Base San Diego, California; and Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.

Of those surveyed, 2,600 reported serious issues with privatized military housing, including mold, water damage, flooding, sewage backup, air conditioning and heating problems, and gas leaks, according to the survey.

Although maintenance teams fixed dangerous problems quickly, the survey found that a total of 844 troops and their families each had to pay an average of $1,680 out of pocket while they were living in their homes to alleviate a range of unresolved problems.

Those expenses include paying for exterminators, mold inspection services, hotel stays and medical services, according to the survey. Respondents also reported having to buy dehumidifiers, water filtration systems, and other products to alleviate unresolved housing issues.

“We need to put some money aside to purchase air purifiers (about $500 each) and a dehumidifier (about $300-400) and also water filter system ($450) and their filters when we already live paycheck to paycheck,” one anonymous service member in North Carolina was quoted in the survey as saying.

Talarico said she initially trusted Balfour Beatty Communities when she