COUNCILWOMEN TIFFANY THOMAS & MARTHA CASTEX-TATUM TAKE LEAD ON RENTERS GRIEVANCES & HOUSTON SLUMLORDS
- Michael Thervil
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
Written by Michael Thervil
[Councilwomen Tiffany Thomas Martha Castex-Tatum property ordinance] Yesterday, Houston resident met in a townhall setting with Houston City Council Members Tiffany Thomas and Martha Castex-Tatum to openly discuss many of the issues that renters are facing with landlords across the city of Houston. At the town hall meeting, Houston residents held nothing back as they expressed their anger and frustration with many of the city’s landlord who in some of their opinions qualify as “slum lords”. Councilwomen Tiffany Thomas and Martha Castex-Tatum in conjunction with the administration of Mayor John Whitmire are looking to be the tip of the sphere when it comes to apartment rental reform in the city of Houston.
During one of the breakout sessions of last night's townhall, renters complained about everything from mold, rats, crime, and even retaliation from landlords when they called 311 to make a report of the apparent dangerous living conditions they are facing in their apartment buildings. One resident and her mother informed Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas that their apartment contained sewage that had backed up into their apartment, and it was months before the landlord even attempted to provide any solutions that they were facing. By the time the landlord did do something minor about it, the rotted sewage had dried in their apartment. This situation is compounded because it's been found that there is a significant number of Houston landlords that own properties that don’t even live in the city of Houston and live out of state.
It was also revealed that not only aren’t there no mold inspectors for mold in the city of Houston, but there are also no mold inspectors in any city across the nation. In what some are calling a "crackdown" on the slum lords of Houston’s “high-risk” residential properties. It was reported that landlords that fail to ensure that their properties are up to standard can and will receive daily fines from $250 up to $2,500 per day and/or risk losing their occupancy certificates. But for many Houston residents that live in such high-risk residences, they simply cannot afford to move to economic hardship and strain.
Targeting 20 of Houston’s most notorious high-risk properties both Tiffany Thomas and Martha Castex-Tatum will be answering the call for thousands of Houston residents that have been simply ignored and neglected by their landlords. For some of the landlords that were in attendance they stated that squatting has been the source of many of their problems within their housing complexes. With homelessness on the rise combined with the fact that 47% of all Houston residents are one paycheck away from eviction, the social issue of squatting is predicted to only increase soon.
For Houston residents interested in voicing their concerns, the next town hall meeting regarding the rental housing issues in Houston is scheduled to take place at the Harris County Department of Education located on Irvington Boulevard from 6pm to 8pm on March 5th. This next townhall meeting will focus on Houston districts C, B, H, I, D and E. Houston councilwoman Tiffany Thomas and Martha Castex-Tatum are taking the lead when it comes to addressing the housing and rental issues Houston residents are facing, watch above the video for more.
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