Apartment tenants living in ‘unlivable’ mold conditions

[Guest guest]

Apartment tenants living in `unlivable' mold conditions

The Pasadena Citizen*

By YVETTE OROZ

10.25.08

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2008/10/26/pasadena_citizen/news/10

2608_mold.txt

The six-by-four-foot hole directly over the tenant's kitchen table

speaks for itself at the Vista Bonita apartments.

Managers at the complex were unavailable to comment.

A piece of plastic, placed there by a tenant, hangs, filled with

water and taped to the ceiling. The overpowering stench of mildew

and the steadily growing mold permeates the home.

The tenant of the more than 33-year-old apartment complex on Tally

Ho Road in Houston is frustrated, but feels powerless. It's been

that way since Hurricane Ike damaged portions of Vista Bonita

apartments.

According to some residents, the apartment's managers have carried

on with business as usual, but at their own benefit.

" They say they don't want to fix up, they just want to rent, " said

another tenant whose young children have been living with relatives

because a skeletal wall and roof structure is all that is left of

their former bedroom, which, like the other rooms, reeks of mildew.

Managers were unavailable for comment at press time. Because of

fears of reprisal, tenants asked to remain anonymous.

The maintenance came, said the tenant, and removed damaged sheet

rock, but that was more than a month ago and the room remains empty.

Walls and ceilings in at least six tenants' apartments have evidence

of mold buildup and one tenant's hallway is filled with a stench of

sewage coming from a ripped section of the wall. Young children

continue living in these apartments.

Tenants also maintain they are being charged for putting trash bags

in the Dumpsters.

The apartment complex numbers 20 units and at least two of the back

units are mostly empty.

Managers, said one tenant, are instead refurbishing the empty

apartments in order to rent to potential tenants while ignoring

existing damage at occupied apartments like theirs.

In a letter sent out to all residents immediately after the storm,

managers asked for cooperation and patience in the post-recovery

period, but since then have issued more threats than assistance,

according to the tenants.

Vista Bonita managers issued a letter dated Oct. 2 complaining

about " excessive trash " in Dumpsters and " clutter on patios, " but

tenants say the letters became more antagonistic.

One tenant said he was threatened with legal action after he called

the police about the smell of gas days after Ike.

" They said that I better not complain to anyone again, " he

said. " They said that if we don't like it then leave. "

Two of the tenants say they have refused to pay the full amount of

their rent until management made initiatives to repair their

apartments. In response, one of those tenants is facing mounting

late fees along with her rent.

" They said I didn't have to leave, but they were going to charge me

extra, " she said.

The other also refused to pay her rent until her apartment was

repaired, and managers responded by sending her a " last notice "

eviction warning and threatened to take her to court.

According to the Texas Attorney General, in a section under Tenant's

Rights, an apartment tenant " has a right to demand that the landlord

repair any condition that materially affects your health and safety.

Under Texas law, by renting you the property, the landlord

guarantees that the unit will be a fit place to live. "

" They say that they are going to do this and that, but it's been

more than a month and they haven't done anything or come by, " said

another tenant.

The tenants maintain that managers have as of yet offered to move

them into unoccupied apartments that have not been damaged.

Vista Bonita might have fallen under radar if Esquivel had not

visited the apartment complex two weeks ago, more than a month after

Ike.

Esquivel, the school counselor at South Houston Elementary School,

was following up on a secretary's report that two students living at

Vista Bonita apartments had missed a significant amount of school

after Ike.

" They told me that he (the student) didn't have any clean clothes, "

he said. " (The mother) told me that her apartment was a mess and

that the kids were staying with their grandmother. "

The mother told Esquivel that she couldn't keep the trash outside

because she would be fined and that she couldn't leave the apartment

because she would be lose her deposit.

Esquivel saw the carpet outside and asked if he could see the inside

of the apartment.

" It smelled very bad because of the mildew and I couldn't stay in

there very long, " he said.

Esquivel also noticed the mold on the walls.

Because he was a school official, said Esquivel, more tenants came

forward with their complaints.

" They thought we might be able to help them somehow, " he said.

Many of these tenants showed up at South Houston Elementary School

on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings to meet FEMA representatives.

Because tenants do not own the property, they cannot apply for

assistance, said Congressman Gene Green, who met with Vista Bonita

tenants at Tuesday's meeting.

" Managers are getting direction from the owners and the owners will

ultimately held responsible, " Green said.

The Neighborhood Protection — a combination of firefighter

inspectors, building code inspectors and police officers — will have

to assess the condition of the apartment complex, said Green.

" The best thing we can do is get a team from the city of Houston and

inspect it and find out why they're treating their tenants this

way, " he said. " If the facility is unsafe for tenants there, it may

be closed down and using FEMA resources and Housing and Urban

Development, the city will find alternative housing for those folks. "

The FEMA meeting at the school became a safe forum for many of the

residents to tell their stories, but they worry about repercussions

from management and especially about their children's health and

safety.

In the meantime, one tenant's 3-year-old daughter often sits at the

kitchen table with the water-filled piece of plastic hanging over

her head and breathes in mold on a continual basis — while her

mother continues to pay the rent.

" I just want somebody who understands what the law is to help us, "

said one of the tenants. " All we want is for our apartments to be

fixed so we can have a decent home for our children. "