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Folks in public housing units are finding themselves in an unhealthy situation.

From mold and mildew to cramped living quarters and leaky plumbing, public housing in New Bern is in desperate need of renovations, say the directors of the New Bern Housing Authority.

"Anything that can go wrong in a building that is 60 or 70 years old is going wrong. It's to be expected. We're having failures," Marty Blaney, director of operations at the New Bern Housing Authority.

Julian Marsh, the director of the New Bern Housing Authority, oversees the city's two public housing units, Trent Court and Craven Terrace, where 1300 or 1400 people live.

"Our properties are getting older, we're getting fewer dollars to maintain them, and it's not sustainable," said Marsh.

Blaney says because of sequestration, the federal government slashed the agency's budget by 33 percent.

Marsh says their only hope now to fix some of these ongoing problems is a $400,000 federal grant, part of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative.

"Assuming we get that grant, that'll allow us to engage with consultants, professionals," said Marsh.

Those consultants and professionals will help the agency conduct a study on the housing units to find long-term solutions.

"With many of our units, we have issues with mold and mildew. I've gotten phone calls from the health department asking us if we can relocate tenants because of health issues because of that."

Marsh says there are about 100 units at Trent Court that can't be renovated because they're on a flood plain. He says the agency could use the grant money to find those people a better place to live.

"What's our plan B? Right now, we don't have a plan B," said Marsh.

The agency's plans to relocate some residents will not involve displacing anyone from their home, said Ricardo Correia, director of development at the New Bern Housing Authority.