Unsanitary human waste disposal, unsafe housing of both elderly and seemingly mentally ill people, and an unbearable stench are among the many complaints of residents of a section of Edgewater in Portmore, St Catherine, where a private nursing home opened its doors almost one year ago.

The residents are adamant that action needs to be taken to address issues at the Home Away From Home nursing facility in the community which, they say, is making their lives a living hell.

During a visit to the quiet community on Monday the Jamaica Observer was told by some residents that the matter has been reported to the St Catherine Municipal Corporation; however, nothing has been done to correct the problem.

Further, they said they were initially told that the house would have been used for short-term rentals.

When the Observer called the municipality, a woman who answered the phone transferred the call to what she said was the Poor Relief Department. However, a woman from that department said the issue is not its responsibility and transferred the call to the front desk. The phone rang without answer.

Efforts to contact Portmore Mayor Leon Thomas were unsuccessful as his phone rang without answer.

“Round there stink. They are not supposed to have a place like this because it’s like a residential area. Too much people in one place and they have no water. Every minute National Water Commission come cut off the water,” a resident, who said she has been living in the community for more than 40 years, told the Observer.

“I get to understand that when the lady come there, she was going to do an Airbnb, until we start see different things happening now,” she added.

Another frustrated resident complained that human waste was being thrown over the fence into her yard, and charged that mentally ill people have been jumping her wall onto her premises.

“I have a bad experience with over there. Filth thrown over my fence, dirty laundry come over my house, or somebody come and put filth in the back of your house. Sometimes I cannot sleep at night because some people over there smoke ganja and make a whole lot of noise,” the woman said.

Another resident complained that people, who she believes are mentally ill, walk through her yard. “They smoke, they seem like they urinate and throw it in a bottle over the fence. We could be passing by in our yard at any moment and anything could be coming at our face. We have to throw bleach out there to deodorise the place,” she said.

Yet another resident, who said she has been living there for more than 30 years, told the Observer that, while she is not pleased with the facility’s operation in the community, she is mostly concerned about the elderly people living there.

“A home should not have been there in the first place. I have seen some old persons and there seems to be a lot of young guys there too who seem mentally challenged. It’s not safe for the elderly there, and I think the mentally challenged guys should be in a safer [more controlled] area,” she said.

“Sometimes I would be at the back of my house and I’d walk with a golf club because I’m scared that one of the mentally challenged men would jump my fence at anytime. One morning somebody was quarrelling because one of the guys came out and slashed their car tyre,” she said.

Uncollected garbage swarmed by flies was seen at the entrance of the facility on Monday.

When a request was made to speak with a nurse from the home, a woman peering through the window said, “Nobody is going to speak to you,” followed by tittering and whispers.